Fr. Reginald J. Reddy, OFM

Loudonville-Fr. Reginald James Reddy, OFM, 84, a professed Franciscan Friar for 63 years and Catholic priest for 58, died at Teresian House Tuesday May 28, 2019. A longtime physics professor at Siena College, a wake is planned for Friday, May 31 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., at St. Bernardine of Siena Friary Chapel, on the campus of Siena College. A Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 1 in the College Chapel with burial following at St. Agnes Cemetery in Menands, N.Y. Fr. Reginald was born July 16, 1934 on Staten Island, N.Y., to Raymond and Edith (née Reardon) Reddy and baptized Kenneth Edward at Sacred Heart Church on July 29, 1934. The youngest of six boys, he attended Sacred Heart Grammar School and Regis High School in Manhattan before studying at St. Joseph Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, N.Y. After graduating in 1954, he was received into the Order of Friars Minor at St. Bonaventure Friary in Paterson, N.J., where he received the name Reginald James professing first vows one year later. He was ordained to the priesthood on Feb. 25, 1961 at the Franciscan Monastery, in Washington, D.C. Following ordination, Fr. Reginald began the first of his many years as a physics teacher at Archbishop Walsh High School in Olean, N.Y. From 1965 to 1973, Fr. Reginald pursued his doctorate in physics at the University of South Carolina earning his Ph.D. He returned north to teach physics at Siena College becoming chair of the physics department and serving as president of Sigma Pi Sigma. His pastoral work included being the founding spiritual assistant for the Franciscan Missionaries of Jesus Crucified, and the spiritual assistant for the local Secular Franciscan fraternity from 1978 to 1992. As professor emeritus upon retirement from Siena in 2002 he began fulltime pastoral ministry at St. Francis Chapel in Albany, also serving as chaplain to the Filipino community and the Knights and Dames of Malta. After 12 years at St. Francis Chapel, Fr. Reginald moved to Holy Name Friary in Ringwood, N.J. Earlier this year, he transferred to Teresian House in Albany. In addition to his Franciscan confreres, Fr. Reginald is survived by his brothers Robert of Edmond, Okla., and John (Marie) Reddy of Hauppauge, Long Island, N.Y. many nieces and nephews; and predeceased by brothers Fr. David, OFM; Richard, and Paul Reddy. Memorial donations in Fr. Reginald’s memory: Franciscan Friars, Holy Name Province, 144 West 32nd Street, New York, NY 10001 or Franciscan Friar Memorial Scholarship Siena College, 515 Loudon Rd., Loudonville, NY 12211.

Fr. Reginald J. Reddy, OFM

July 16, 1934 - May 28, 2019