Photo by Nick Park ’15 | Fr. Eddie Reese, S.J. speaks at the funeral of Fr. Harry “Dutch” Olivier, S.J. on March 23, 2015. After serving the Brophy Community for 20 years, Fr. Reese will become the President at St. Ignatius Prep in San Francisco, California.
Reese named president of St. Ignatius College Prep, Board of Trustees names VP Renke acting president
By Cameron M. Bray ’16
THE ROUNDUP
The Brophy Board of Trustees announced Jan. 20 that Brophy President the Rev. Eddie Reese, S.J. will depart July 1 to serve as the president of St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco, Calif.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees Mr. John Strittmatter made the official announcement in a letter written to the Brophy community. The news was also announced via Brophy’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
“We will miss him greatly and are grateful for his 20 years of dedicated and generous service to Brophy,” Mr. Strittmatter wrote. “However, we are happy that our sister school in San Francisco can benefit from his proven success as a leader, visionary and change agent.”
In the letter, Mr. Strittmatter cited Fr. Reese’s numerous successes, including the the introduction of one-to-one computing in 2006, establishment of the Loyola Academy in 2010 and the doubling of the campus’ physical size.
Brophy Vice President Ms. Adria Renke, who will serve as the acting president, said that Fr. Reese’s departure was bittersweet for everyone—even himself.
“Fr. Reese is an incredible administrator with a pastoral heart,” Ms. Renke wrote in an email to The Roundup. “He is a strategic thinker who shares his opinions freely allowing decision making to be transparent and clear. He loves his work, he is loyal to his people and devoted to his Jesuit life. His departure is the end of a great era at Brophy. We are all so grateful we had him for the time that we did,”
Fr. Reese became Brophy’s president in December 1998 after serving numerous roles at various Jesuit high schools including Loyola High School in Los Angeles, Bellarmine High School in San Jose and Ignatius College Riverview in Sydney, Australia.
