One does not expect a Jesuit priest, even a professor of Classical Literature, to take as his vacation reading The Peloponnesian War of the fifth-century BC historian Thucydides in Greek. Still less, would one expect that same priest chairing the Classics Department at Boston College and at the same time pastoring a multicultural parish in Roxbury, MA, and later in Oakland, CA. Add to the mix that he was a marathoner for most of his life. These three works to a large extent defined the life and ministry of Fr. David H. Gill, SJ.
Much of this activity began in the Boston suburb of Winthrop, in a Catholic home with both parents prominent in town affairs, four high-achieving brothers, and a family connection to Boston College and Boston College High School. Dave’s enjoyment of BC High was so complete that he wanted to join the Jesuits upon graduation. Told to defer his plan until completing college, BC became the place of discovery for him; he came under the spell of Cardinal Newman (The Idea of a University) and a Jesuit professor of Classics, Carl Thayer, who in Dave’s eyes embodied Newman’s ideal of the quest for wisdom and virtue. At this graduation, however, Dave did enter the Society of Jesus and after two novitiate years moved on to Weston College for philosophy studies. In 1960, he began doctoral studies at Havard, completing his doctorate in 1964 on the ritual use of Greek cult tables under the direction of Professor Sterling Dow who became his good friend. For his theology studies, he chose Sankt Georgen in Frankfort, Germany, one of many foreign students there. “I liked everybody there,” he concluded, one reason perhaps because he spent summers exploring sites in Greece with his brother Henry, stationed on an American aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean.
Returning to the United States in 1969, Dave began teaching at BC where he would teach Classics for the next thirty-nine years, with a few interruptions. One interruption was the three-year assignment as Rector of the Jesuits at the College of the Holy Cross (1991-1994). A lesser interruption was being appointed pastor of Our Lady of the Angels, unique in the Boston Archdiocese for its congregation of White, Black, and Hispanic people. From 1999 to 2008, Dave lived in the Roxbury rectory, commuting daily to BC five miles away. In 2009, he was invited to teach Greek at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, where he assisted Fr. Greg Chisholm, SJ, in St. Patrick’s multicultural parish in West Oakland, CA.
In 2013, he suffered a devastating stroke, which left him unable to engage in outside ministry. His final years were spent at the Jesuits’ Campion Health Center in Weston, MA. Though unable to lead an intellectually active life, he found ways to communicate his love and care for others, fellow Jesuits and Campion staff alike, and his appreciation for the excellent care he received. On January 25, 2026, at 7 p.m., Dave Gill died peacefully at Campion Center.
David H. Gill was born on 29 December 1934 in Winthrop, MA, the son of the late Henry and Alice (Donovan) Gill. He was baptized on 20 January 1935 in St. John the Evangelist in Winthrop. He was survived by his brothers Richard and Peter, and predeceased by his brothers John Kevin and Henry Jr. Jesuits who knew Dave even slightly will always remember his light heart, willingness to interrupt his own enjoyment of life to help people in need, and his welcome of whatever came his way.
Click here to light a Virtual Candle in memoriam of the life and legacy of Fr. David Gill, SJ.
