James F. Kelley
James Francis Kelley (July 27, 1902 – September 11, 1996) was an American Roman Catholic monsignor who was one of the nation's youngest college presidents when he was appointed as a 33-year-old in 1936 to lead Seton Hall College and grew the school's enrollment tenfold before he left the position in 1949, shortly before it became Seton Hall University. Decades after his retirement, he would tell a reporter that he had been responsible for helping Amelia Earhart to live under an assumed name for decades after it had been believed she had crashed and died while flying across the Pacific Ocean.
James F. Kelley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of Seton Hall University | |
| In office July 11, 1936 – March 1949 | |
| Preceded by | Francis J. Monaghan |
| Succeeded by | John L. McNulty |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Francis Kelley July 27, 1902 Kearny, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | September 11, 1996 (aged 94) Brick, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Seton Hall University (BA, MA) University of Louvain (PhD) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | July 8, 1928 |
Early life and education
Born in Kearny, New Jersey to James F. Kelley Sr. and Frances Shaw Kelley, Kelley graduated in 1920 from Seton Hall Preparatory School and from Seton Hall College in 1924.[1] He received his ordination in 1928 after his studies in Belgium and earned a doctorate at the Université catholique de Louvain. Kelley was named as a monsignor in 1941 by Pope Pius XII, who had been a student in an English language class that Kelley had taught.[2]
Career
When he was 33 years old and serving as head of the colleges' department of philosophy, he was appointed by Bishop (later Archbishop) Thomas J. Walsh of Newark to serve as president of Seton Hall College in July 1936, making him the nation's youngest college president.[3] When he took office, he led a liberal arts school that had an enrollment of 300.[4] During his tenure, he oversaw the admission of women and the construction of the Walsh Gymnasium, as part of a project initiated in 1939 that would cost $600,000 (equivalent to $12.6 million in 2022).[5] He was named as a monsignor by Pope Pius XII in 1941, making him the youngest priest in the Newark Archdiocese to be recognized with that designation.[6]
Kelley stepped down from office at Seton Hall in March 1949 in the wake of an investigation into the school by the federal government that looked into potential improper sales of war surplus equipment that had been given for the school's use. He was succeeded by John L. McNulty. Enrollment at the school had grown to 6,000 by the time he left office.[7] A year later, the school was granted university status.[4]
He was named as a pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where he served for more than two decades and was actively involved in community organizations. After retiring in 1976, he was a resident of Rumson, New Jersey.[1]
In 1991, Kelley told a reporter investigating the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, that she had survived the war and that he had been ordered by Francis Joseph Spellman to repatriate her to the United States, where she lived as Irene Craigmile Bolam.[8]
He died at Ocean Medical Center on September 11, 1996.[4]
References
- Office of the President & Chancellor: James F. Kelley records, Seton Hall University. Accessed April 28, 2022.
- Stout, David (1996-09-14). "Msgr. James Kelley, 94, a President of Seton Hall". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
- "Rev. J.F. Kelley Heads Seton Hall; Priest, 34 Years Old, Will Be the Youngest President of a College in Nation. Named By Bishop Walsh; Philosophy Department Chairman at Jersey Institution Has Studied in Many Schools.", The New York Times, July 10, 1936. Accessed April 28, 2022. "The Rev. James Francis Kelley, head of the Department of Philosophy of Seton Hall College, South Orange, was appointed president of the college today by Bishop Thomas J. Walsh of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Newark."
- Stout, David. "Msgr. James Kelley, 94, a President of Seton Hall", The New York Times, September 14, 1996. Accessed April 28, 2022.
- "Seton Hall College To Get A Gymnasium; Ground for $600,000 Edifice to Be Broken Thursday", The New York Times, June 27, 1939. Accessed April 28, 2022. "Ground for a $600,000 gymnasium, to include an auditorium, a theatre and two swimming pools, will be broken Thursday at Seton Hall College here, it was announced today by the Rev. Dr. James F. Kelley, president of the college."
- "Seton Hall's Head Made Monsignor; Youngest Priest in Newark Archdiocese To Be So Honored", Herald News, June 14, 1941. Accessed April 28, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "A former altar boy who became a college president, at 34 received the rank of right reverend monsignor last night at the age of 39. Youngest priest so honored in the Newark Archdiocese. The curly-haired priest who knelt before Archbishop Thomas J. Walsh at an improvised throne on the stage of Seton Hall gymnasium was Dr. James F. Kelley, president of Seton Hall college."
- "Seton Hall Gets A New President; College Under Inquiry in War Goods Sales -- Father McNulty Succeeds Msgr. Kelley", The New York Times, March 4, 1949. Accessed April 28, 2022. "Msgr. Kelley had been president of Seton Hall since 1936, when at the age of 33 he became one of the youngest college presidents in the nation. Under his leadership the school, which is operated by the Archdiocese of Newark, grew from an enrollment of 423 students to its present total of more than 6,000"
- Rasmussen, Cecelia. "A New Take on Earhart Mystery", The Los Angeles Times, November 23, 2003. Accessed April 28, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Amelia Earhart vanished nearly 70 years ago, but her fate remains one of the nation’s great mysteries. The pioneering aviator disappeared on July 2, 1937, as she was flying an equatorial route around the globe.... In 1991, he went to New Jersey to interview Msgr. James Francis Kelley, 89, a retired psychologist, who affirmed that he had been commissioned by then-Archbishop Francis Joseph Spellman to bring Amelia Earhart back to the United States after the war and help give her a new identity."