Fall leads to death of college president,Priest's passing stuns St. Peter's community

Star Ledger ^ | Wednesday, December 27, 2006 | JEFF DIAMANT

[Coleus]

Amid the jokes, carol-singing, small talk and turkey on Friday at the annual staff Christmas party for St. Peter's College stood the affable host, the Rev. James N. Loughran, president of the school since 1995. "He looked so good, was so energetic," said Eugene Cornacchia, provost of the Jersey City school. "There wasn't a sign of anything."

Yet later that evening, or the next day, the Rev. Loughran, 66, apparently fell down the stairs at his house and died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck. He was found Sunday, Christmas Eve morning, after friends had worried because he had not shown up for dinner Saturday night.

Authorities say the death was accidental.

The 18-acre main campus of the Jesuit college, which has a branch in Englewood Cliffs, is closed for the holidays, but Loughran's colleagues and students were notified on the Internet and by e-mail about his death. They are stunned, said Stephen Hudik, a college spokesman. "It's a great loss for the St. Peter's College community," Hudik said. "We're in a state of shock. It certainly is very unexpected. Father made a deep impact on the lives of all those in the college community here. He was a man of deep faith and spirituality."

The school has named Cornacchia to serve as acting president. The board of trustees is expected to meet next week to decide how to replace Loughran. His wake is scheduled for Friday, his funeral Mass for Saturday. Yesterday, he was remembered as a spiritual, congenial man, a public advocate for higher education who served as president of four colleges, an enthusiastic tennis and basketball player, and a devoted fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers.

[BlackVeil]

Is there anything suspicious about this accidental death? I suppose that people die in falls all the time ... but still.