Cogan, William B. (Father)

Jesuit Father William B. Cogan died on July 8, 2016. He was 91 years old.

Fr. Cogan was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on July 27, 1924.  He attended Regis High School in New York City and entered St. Andrew on Hudson in Poughkeepsie, New York, on Aug. 14, 1942.

After studying philosophy at Woodstock College, Fr. Cogan served as regent at Canisius High School from 1949-1952. He then went on to study theology at Weston College in Massachusetts, during which he was ordained on June 18, 1955, at the Fordham University Church.

When he graduated from Weston College, Fr. Cogan went on to teach at McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, New York, for five years. He was then named secretary to the provincial at Kohlmann Hall in the Bronx, before going to the Colegio San Ignacio in Puerto Rico, where he taught English and religion from 1968-1970. After studying religious education at Fordham University, he was involved in marriage encounter work and the Spiritual Exercises at St. Ignatius Retreat House in Manhasset, New York, until 1982.

Fr. Cogan assisted at local parishes and was a retreat minister on Staten Island from 1984-1994, then at parishes around Auriesville and Brooklyn. In 1999, Fr. Cogan moved to Murray-Weigel Hall in the Bronx to continue his retreat, hospital, pastoral and prayer ministries.