Rev. Frank R. Haig., SJ, was born on September 11, 1928, in Philadelphia, PA, the younger brother of Alexander Haig, who served as Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan. Frank attended Lower Merion Senior High School and entered the Society of Jesus at the Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, PA, on July 30, 1946. After graduating from Woodstock College in Woodstock, MD, he received his Licentiate in Philosophy from Bellarmine College in Plattsburgh, NY, and his Ph.D. in Physics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He also earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from Woodstock College where he was ordained a priest on June 19, 1960.
After finishing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Rochester, Fr. Haig spent three years as a professor of physics at Wheeling Jesuit University before becoming its third president in 1966, serving for six years. He came to Loyola College in Maryland in 1972 where he taught physics for nine years. In 1981, he was once again called to serve as president of a Jesuit institution, this time at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, where he remained for six years. He then returned to Loyola College for a tenure of nearly 20 years doing what he loved best, teaching physics. He was made Professor Emeritus of Physics at Loyola University Maryland in 2005 for another 14 years.
Fr. Haig loved to point out that he wasn’t just a Jesuit physicist, he was a Jesuit nuclear physicist. He spent a lifetime studying theoretical physics, nuclear structure, elementary particle physics, and cosmology. Fr. Haig’s career is a living testimony to the complementarity of abiding faith and profound curiosity about the universe. In 2016, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Washington Academy of Sciences. He also served on the Scientific and Educational Council of the Maryland Academy of Science.
In 2019, Fr. Haig moved to the Manresa Hall Jesuit Community in Philadelphia where he was missioned to pray for the Church and the Society of Jesus. He died peacefully on February 28, 2024.