William J. Gordon, O.S.A.

1915 – 1953 (July 20)

William Gordon was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 1, 1915, one of two sons and two daughters of John Gordon and Ellen Fitzsimons. After receiving his early education at Holy Cross Parochial School and Flatbush High School in New York, he entered Augustinian Academy on Staten Island in September, 1935. He was received into the novitiate on September 9, 1936 and made his simple profession on September 10, 1937. He  was solemnly professed on September 10, 1940, and following studies at Augustinian College, he was ordained to the priesthood in Trinity Chapel in Washington, D.C. on May 18, 1944.

For two years after ordination. Father Gordon remained at Augustinian College while he did graduate work in economics at Catholic University. He received his Masters degree in 1945. From 1946 to 1951, he taught economics in Villanova University’s School of Commerce and Finance. He later served in our parish of St. Nicholas of Tolentine in Jamaica, New York.

Father Gordon was 38 when he died on July 20, 1953 in Manhattan. He had been suffering from a heart condition for some time previously. Following a Requiem Mass in the chapel of Augustinian Academy on July 25, he was buried in his family’s plot in Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn.