Joseph M. Healy, 75, Associate Director of International Programs at Loyola College in Maryland, and a longtime Loyola faculty member and administrator, died at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium on August 13. Joe was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in 2004 but continued to work for Loyola until shortly before he entered the hospice center.
A former Jesuit priest, Joe previously worked as a community organizer in the city’s Reservoir Hill neighborhood. During his three-decade tenure at Loyola, Joe also served as Director of International Programs; Associate Director of Advising; Associate Academic Dean; Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies; and Director of Institutional Research while also teaching in the Theology and Philosophy departments. Starting 30 years ago with six students, Joe founded and developed Loyola’s study abroad program. Today, that program sends 550 junior year students annually to 30 different programs, exchanges and affiliations in 23 countries. In addition to indulging his own passion for travel, Joe relished sharing great meals with family and friends; sampling beers and wine; reading, writing and discussing religion and spirituality; losing himself for hours in nearby museums; and introducing newcomers to Baltimore’s many charms.
Joe was born in 1933 in Jersey City, N.J., the son of Alice (nee Bowne) and Joseph Bernard Healy. He attended St. Aloysius Elementary in Jersey City and graduated in 1951 from St. Peter’s Preparatory, a Jesuit high school where he was an honor roll student and played intramural basketball. He loved to listen to boxing matches on the radio with his dad, who worked as a copy editor. Joe had a reputation as a snazzy dresser who liked to emulate the dapper balladeer Billy Eckstine, famous for his “Mr. B roll collar,” loosened tie and casually draped jacket. After attending St. Peter’s College in Jersey City and earning a marketing degree in 1955, Joe entered the Jesuit novitiate at Bellarmine College, Plattsburgh, N.Y. to study for the priesthood. In 1961 he earned a Ph.L (Licentiate in Philosophy) from Fordham University. Between 1961 and 1964 he taught at Ateneo de Manila and Padre Faura Graduate School in the Philippines and conducted research for the Peace Corps. Following a sabbatical in Asia, Africa and Europe, Joe completed a master’s degree in sociology at Fordham University and a master’s in theology at Woodstock College in Maryland. He was ordained in the Society of Jesus in 1967. That same year he started working at St. Francis Neighborhood Center, a community outreach center in Reservoir Hill. He later taught at the Ralph Young Boys School in East Baltimore.
During this time he met Melody, another community activist. Joe left the priesthood in 1971. He and Melody married in 1972. Prior to Loyola, Joe taught at Bay College of Maryland. Joe was preceded in death by his parents and his only sister, Joan. He is survived by his devoted wife, Melody; daughters Candra Healy of Baltimore and Michelle (Sterling) Smoot, of Bowie; son Steven (Ilyndove) Healy, of Princeton, N.J.; grandchildren Lena, Justice, Aaron and Sage; mother-in-law Alice Ross; brothers-in-law Charles Gordon, of Baltimore, and Joseph Cooney of Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.; nephews Joseph, Brian, Terry, Kevin, and Sean Cooney; godchildren Kaejoo Ryu, Jai Ryu and Akira Fitzgerald; and a host of relatives and dear friends.