Inducted in 2011
Prep Teacher (1945-1949; 1955-1969)

Induction Video

Francis Anthony Fahey was born to John Fahey and Catherine Cullen Fahey in New York City in 1912 and was baptized in the Church of St. Paul the Apostle. John and Catherine raised their two sons, Francis and John, Jr., in a devout and loving home in Hell's Kitchen. . 

Frank attended the De La Salle Institute on 59th Street, graduating in 1931 before going on to the Knights of Columbus Business School. After completing his business degree, he entered the Jesuits in 1933 at Wernersville, Pennsylvania. He spent his regency teaching at Brooklyn Prep, and was ordained in 1945 before first arriving at the Prep in the late '40s.  Both Frank and his brother would join the Society of Jesus

During his many years at the Prep as a Latin and religious studies teacher, Fahey was often one of the first members of the Prep Faculty that incoming freshmen would meet because he also ran the Bookstore for the majority of his tenure. And for hundreds of students with whom he crossed paths during his years at the Prep, these interactions with Father were hugely influential. Many, many former students wrote in support of his nomination to the Hall of Honor, and although each had his own unique story to tell, the group was unanimous in praising his “kind guidance and patience” and the fact that he was “the most easily approachable mentor at the Prep.”

“No kinder, more gentle soul could have led a nervous and apprehensive freshman through the opening week of his Prep life. A smile at the bookstore window or a quiet, guiding word gave us hope that we would not actually perish before the first marking period over,” recalled one alumnus.  Another former student, who would go on to become an educator himself, wrote of how Fahey was the ideal first-year Latin teacher, especially in an era when their schedule was set up for nine periods of Latin a week: “He was gentle, but lively, had a sense of humor, and jollied us along in an amiable fashion. I don’t recall him ever losing his temper or yelling at anyone: no mean feat with a roomful of 14-year-old boys."

And yet Fahey's quiet, calm façade could not contain his lively sense of humor. He used to sell the New York Times in the Prep Bookstore in Hughes Hall. While unbundling the stack of papers each morning, he used to incant, "All the News That'll Fit in Print." His comic flare caught some of his new students off-guard. One wrote, “ I hadn't known many priests before coming to the Prep, so I was quite surprised to meet such a funny and fun-loving man. He would completely mispronounce the phrase, ‘I oppo-lo-gise with rap-a-ditty; I put the em-fasis on the wrong sill-a-bull.’ As a thirteen-year-old, I thought he was hysterical, which is why I still remember it almost fifty years later.” 

Other Faheyisms include:

Flunco, fluncere, Fahey fixum
That’s a horse of a different garage and a car of another color
Now you’re cooking with gas on the front burner with high octane

People tell funny stories about Fahey, but they likely remember these stories because of the deep well from which they came. He cared about everyone. Always available to provide direction to young men who asked for his advice outside of Latin or theology class, his guidance was specific, direct and often included prayer, “not from desperation, but as an ingredient of a successful outcome.” Others noted that Father motivated young men to do the right thing, not through fear or intimidation, but because no one wanted to disappoint him.

One alumnus, whose father had disappeared when he was a young boy, wrote about how Fahey had taken him under his wing and helped him obtain financial aid to stay at the Prep after his mother endured a long hospitalization. The student had to live in Queens with a relative and spent about four hours commuting daily. “He was just very understanding and supportive of my situation. I will always remember his sense of humor, concern and kindness with love and affection.”

In the words of another alumnus: “In all four years at the Prep, this piece of advice from Fr. Fahey stayed with me. He was speaking metaphorically about the different sorts of confrontations one faces in life and said ‘If you’re going to get into a fight, even if you’re overmatched, at least make the other guy remember he was in a fight!’ These words have remained with me — relevant and applicable in so many ways. They are so profound that I passed them along to my own children.”

“I always carry Fr. Fahey close in my heart,” wrote another Prepster. “He was a man who understood boys.”

More than one former student wrote that Fahey’s short stature, modest faculty position, gentle personality and long cassock masked the heart of a man who had grown up in the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York City — and had the backbone and resilience to prove it. “Underneath his robes and demeanor was someone you’d want on your side if things got rough,” said one. "Helpful, kind, tough, and truthful: the accumulation of all the positive attributes a young man could aspire to,” said another.

Rev. Francis Fahey, SJ died in May 1969.  He was not yet 60 years old. Maybe he knew his time on this earth would be a bit short. As one former student recalled, “He was always going at full speed. Even when he was carrying an armful of books, I had to run to keep up with him.” And in another description written by a Prepster from Fahey's day: "When Father would ask for my assistance in the bookstore, I would follow the 'Welsh Warrior' down the stairs and around the corners, his black robes flying.”

“Sometimes it is important that we recognize the quiet ones,” said an alumnus in support of Fahey's induction to the Hall of Honor. “We should not neglect to honor those whose achievements made no headlines, whose career successes might not be measurable by lots of zeros, whose legacies are not in bricks and mortar but in the hearts and memories of students who were once 14 and scared. Fr. Fahey, short in stature and modest in his position at the Prep, was just that sort of man. I think of him and smile at the skill of his gentleness.”