Jesuit Father Russell Roide
Jesuit educator served at UH Newman Center
Jesuit Father Russell Roide, a member of the U.S. Jesuits’ West Province who served for three years as pastor of the Newman Center/Holy Spirit Parish at the University of Hawaii, died peacefully in his sleep on April 13 at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos. He was 82 years old and a Jesuit for 60 years.
Father Roide entered the Jesuit novitiate at Los Gatos in 1960, and after 10 years of study at various colleges and universities, was ordained a priest in Los Angeles on June 13, 1970.
Between 1965 and the late 1970s, Father Roide taught at or was an administrator for Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California, Loyola High School in Los Angeles and St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco.
Moving on to the university level, he served as director of campus ministry at Stanford University for eight years before being assigned as the director of the Newman Center at the University of Hawaii from 2008 to 2011. He also was chaplain at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Gonzaga University in Florence, Italy.
The Jesuit priest served as pastor of St. Agnes Church in San Francisco from 1994 to 2001 and at St. Francis Xavier Church in Phoenix from 2002 to 2006), and did pastoral ministry in San Jose, Morgan Hill and at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos.
Over several decades, Father Roide led dozens of pilgrimages to the Holy Land and religious sites in Europe and elsewhere.
Russell Joseph Roide was born in Los Angeles on Dec. 10, 1938, the son of Joseph R. Roide and Julia R. Cerniglia Roide. He graduated from Loyola High School of Los Angeles in1956 and Loyola [Marymount] University with a degree in biology in 1960.
He is survived by his brother, Frank Roide, of Carson City, Nevada, and many extended family members.
A funeral Mass was scheduled at the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center April 26. Condolences may be sent to Frank Roide, 2243 St. George Way, Carson City, NV 89703 and Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, P.O. Box 128, Los Gatos, CA 95030-7009.