Thomas Ignatius Gasson

Life & Legacy

Thomas Ignatius Gasson (September 23, 1859 – February 27, 1930) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit. Born in England, he emigrated to the United States at the age of 13, and was taken under the care of two Catholic women in Philadelphia, which led to his conversion to Catholicism soon thereafter. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1875, and studied theology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, where he was ordained a priest. Upon his return to the United States, he became a professor at Boston College, before being named President of Boston College in 1907.
As president, he initiated the college's relocation from the South End of Boston to a new campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts that he purchased. He oversaw the construction of the new campus' first building, the recitation hall, which was later named Gasson Hall. For this, he became known as Boston College's "second founder." His tenure came to an end in 1914, and he moved first to Maryland and then to Georgetown University, where he served as graduate dean for sociology for nine years. He then briefly led the Manresa Institute on Staten Island, before being stationed at Loyola College in Montreal, where he died in 1930.