[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E718-E719]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

NOTING THE PASSING OF REV. MICHAEL J. LAVELLE; PRESIDENT OF JOHN
CARROLL UNIVERSITY

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HON. LOUIS STOKES

of ohio

in the house of representatives

Tuesday, March 28, 1995
Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, I rise with sadness today upon learning of
the passing of Rev. Michael J. Lavelle on Saturday, March 25, 1995. For
the past 7 years, Father Lavelle served as President of John Carroll
University, which is located in my congressional district. I join
members of the Cleveland community, the John Carroll University family,
and others in mourning the passing of this distinguished individual.
In an article which appeared in the March 26th edition of the Plain
Dealer, Father Lavelle is referred to as a ``strong visionary, capable
president and friend,'' These words are very appropriate in describing
an individual whose academic career spanned 26 years, and whose
devotion as a Jesuit priest earned him the admiration and respect of
his colleagues throughout the Nation. Additionally, those of us who
benefited from Father Lavelle's friendship recall his love and concern
for his fellow man. Over the years, I enjoyed a close working
relationship with Father Lavelle and his staff at John Carroll. I
admired him for his strong leadership and commitment to educating our
youth.
Mr. Speaker, the Plain Dealer article brings into greater perspective
the life and contributions of an individual who will never be
forgotten. I want to share this article with may colleagues and the
Nation. Father Lavelle was very special to those who knew him. I extend
my deepest sympathy to his sister, Helen Lavelle, and the entire John
Carroll University family.
JCU's Lavelle Dead at 60

leader in academia and jesuit order

(By Richard M. Peery)

University Heights.--The Rev. Michael J. Lavelle, a Jesuit
priest whose long and distinguished career led him to the
presidency of John Carroll University, died yesterday at the
A.M. McGregor Home in east Cleveland
He never regained consciousness after collapsing Feb. 27
from severe cardiac arrhythmia, while working out at the
university's physical fitness center. He was 60.
``Father Lavelle was a strong visionary, capable president,
and he was also a friend,'' said Frederick F. Travis, acting
JCU president. ``He was very well liked on campus and was a
popular choice for president in 1988 among both faculty and
staff.''
During Lavelle's tenure as the 21st president of John
Carroll, the freshman class enrollment grew from 500 to more
than 700. He was instrumental in having two dormitories built
to house the influx of students.
He also helped initiate the movement of John Carroll's
athletic teams from the President's Athletic Conference to
the Ohio Athletic Conference.. The change led to competition
with Baldwin-Wallace, Mount Union, Wooster and Muskingum
colleges.
His accomplishments were not limited to the university.
Respected by his peers, he often was invited to participate
in Catholic matters of international importance.
In 1983, Lavelle was elected to the 33rd General
Congregation of the Society of Jesus, which established the
direction of the worldwide Jesuit order for the last 12
years.
[[Page E719]] He also served as one of a dozen advisers to
the American Catholic Bishops Committee on their pastoral
letter on the economy in the 1980s.
An economist and an expert on Eastern Europe, he traveled
to Soviet bloc countries more than 20 times, expanding his
expertise in Soviet and international economics and working
with his fellow Jesuits in those nations, many of whom had
been driven underground.
The Cleveland native grew up in the Lakeview Terrace
public-housing complex on the West Side. His father worked
for the old Cleveland Transit System for 42 years, 28 of them
on the Detroit Ave. and Clifton Blvd. streetcar lines.
Lavelle, a 1953 graduate of St. Ignatius High School,
distinguished himself as a member of the school's football
team, which won the 1952 West Senate League championship. He
was voted the West Senate Most Valuable Player and was named
to the All-Catholic High School football team. An all-
scholastic offensive guard who also played defense, he
received All-Ohio honorable mention.
Lavelle was a member of the school's track team for four
years, played basketball for one year and played sandlot
baseball in the summer.
He was inducted into the St. Ignatius Athletic Hall of Fame
in 1988.
Several years ago, Lavelle had a quadruple heart bypass
operation, but he could still be found in the gymnasium
during many lunch hours playing pickup basketball with
faculty members.
But it was another school activity that made the deepest
impression on Lavelle as a teenager. One holiday, while
delivering food baskets to the needy, he went to the home of
a woman on Scovill Ave. who lived with just a mattress on the
floor, a table and one chair. She cried when she received the
food.
Lavelle said the experience made him decide to go into a
profession where he would help people. The summer after he
graduated from Ignatius, he decided to become a priest.
``Sure my parents were surprised, and some girlfriends
too,'' he recalled years later.
Lavelle attended Xavier University in Cincinnati from 1953
to 1957. He earned degrees from Loyola University of Chicago
and a doctorate at Boston College. He also studied at Harvard
University's Russian Research Center in Boston and at the
Sankt Georgen theology school in Frankfurt, Germany, where he
was ordained in 1968.
He planned to say his first Mass on his father's birthday
in 1969. But Lavelle returned to Cleveland early that year
and delivered his first Mass at his father's funeral in
Ascension Catholic Church.
Lavelle joined the John Carroll faculty in 1969 as an
assistant professor of economics. He became chairman of the
business department in 1973 and served as the dean of the
School of Business from 1975 to 1977.
He left John Carroll to serve for six years as provincial
superior of the Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus. He
was the religious leader of 350 Jesuit priests and brothers
in Michigan and Ohio.
He returned to John Carroll as academic vice president in
1984. Two years later, he took on additional duties as
executive vice president for day-to-day operations. He was
named president in 1988, succeeding the Rev. Thomas P.
O'Malley, who resigned to take a teaching assignment in
Africa.
Lavelle's inauguration was marked by his pledge to increase
the university's commitment to community service and
multicultural development. It was celebrated with a variety
of ethnic foods and entertainment.
The multilingual priest, who was fluent in German and could
read French, Italian, Czech and Russian, was known for his
love of ethnic art, tradition and food. At the start of each
school year, he distributed to new faculty members a list of
local restaurants known for their ethnic cuisine.
An amateur cook, he was known for preparing dishes such as
linguini with red clam sauce. For many years, he volunteered
as a cook for the Friends of Templum House benefit.
Lavelle was a trustee of Boston College, Xavier University
and Magnificat High School. He was a former trustee of
Canisius College, the University of Detroit, Loyola College
in Maryland, St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia and the
Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley Calif.
He is survived by his sister, Helen of Chicago.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Gesu Catholic
Church, 2470 Miramar Blvd., University Heights.
Schulte & Mahon-Murphy Funeral Home in Lyndhurst is in
charge of arrangements.

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