Peter Clifford, a De La Salle Christian Brother, Dies at 88

Brother Peter Clifford, FSC, died on Tuesday, July 23, 2013 at De La Salle Hall in Lincroft, New Jersey. Brother Peter was a De La Salle Christian Brother and a member of the Brothers Community at Christian Brothers Center, 635 Ocean Road, Narragansett, Rhode Island.

Brother Peter Clifford was born in the Bronx in New York City on February 17, 1925 to Mary and Peter Clifford. He graduated from St. Jerome’s School in the Bronx in 1939 and entered the Junior Novitiate of the Christian Brothers in Barrytown, NY. Brother Peter entered the Brothers Novitiate in 1943, made his first vows in 1944 and his final vows in 1950. He also made a Second Novitiate experience in Rome in 1965.

Brother Peter’s professional education began in 1947. He studied History at Catholic University in Washington, DC, received his BA degree in Education from Manhattan College in 1950 and also an MA in History from Fordham University in 1957.

Brother Peter spent most of his professional life as an Administrator in Education. In 1968, he received a CAS degree in Educational Administration from Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. In 1970, he received an Ed. D degree in Educational Administration, also from Harvard.

Brother Peter Clifford’s ministry career was varied. He taught in Good Shepherd and Immaculate Conception Grammar Schools in New York City at the start of his ministry assignments between 1947 and 1954. He was also principal at St. Cecilia School in Brooklyn for three years, ending his ministry to younger students. He then spent five years as a missionary in the Philippines, as the Academic Dean of De La Salle College in Manila.

Upon returning to the United States in 1962, Brother Peter began serving high school age students as a teacher and as an administrator at St Augustine SH and at Bishop Loughlin Memorial HS in Brooklyn, NY from 1962 to 1965. He worked his way north to St. Mary’s High School in Waltham, MA and Bishop Bradley High School in Manchester, NH, replacing administrators going on a sabbatical program in Rome, from which he had returned. Brother Peter worked for the Catholic Schools office in Brooklyn, NY from 1968 to 1971 and as the Executive Secretary for Secondary Schools at the National Catholic Education Association in Washington, DC from 1971 to 1974.

Brother Peter began his ministry to Higher Education as Academic Dean at St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens from 1974 to 1976. He then went to the Midwest, as the President of St. Mary’s University in Winona, MN from 1976 to 1994. He was Provincial of the LINE District of the De La Salle Christian Brothers in Narragansett, RI for a three year term and, then for two years, he was an Assistant in Higher Education for the US Catholic Conference in Washington DC. His last college connection was as President of St. Mary’s College in Leavenworth, Kansas from 1989 to 1994.

Brother Peter became the Director of Finance for the LINE District of the Christian Brothers from 1994 to l999 in Narragansett, RI and then moved back to Winona, MN to work for the Metanoia Group as Vice President from 2000 to 2002. Moving back to Narragansett, he became the Assistant to the President of Ocean Tides until his illness this year.

Brother Peter Clifford is pre-deceased by his parents, Mary and Peter, and by his brother, Stephen. He is survived by his brother John of Dover, NH and by his brother, James of Lavallette, NJ.

Brother Peter Clifford will be waked at Christian Brothers Center, 635 Ocean Road, Narragansett, Rhode Island on Thursday, July 25 from 7 to 9 p.m. and on Friday, July 26 from 10 to 11 a.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Christian Brothers Center on Friday, July 26 at 11 a.m. in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Star with burial in the Brothers cemetery following the Mass.

Find more information on Brother Peter Clifford's memorial page provided by Avery-Storti Funeral Home.