April 15, 2017
In Memoriam: Rev. Norman F. Haddad, O.P. ’54 & ’01Hon.; served as PC trustee, prior provinicial
Rev. Norman Francis Haddad, O.P. ’54 & ’01Hon., a former member of the Providence College Board of Trustees, died on Oct. 6, 2016, at Sacred Heart Home in Hyattsville, Md., where he had been receiving palliative care for terminal cancer.
Father Haddad was born in Waterbury, Conn. He majored in political science at PC and entered the Dominican Order in its Province of St. Joseph immediately after graduation, making his first profession in 1955. He was ordained on June 9, 1961, at St. Dominic Church in Washington, D.C., where he served first as parochial vicar from 1962-1972 and then as pastor from 1981-1993.
Father Haddad also served in parish ministry at Dominican churches in Columbia, S.C.; Charlottesville, Va.; and Louisville, Ky. For seven years, he was prior of a Dominican retreat house in Dover, Mass. He served the Province of St. Joseph as prior provincial from 1997-2002, during which time he was the ex-officio chair of the Providence College Corporation and served as a PC trustee. He was honored with a doctor of divinity degree from the College at its 83rd Commencement Exercises in 2001.
In 2008, Father Haddad returned to St. Dominic Priory in Washington to an active retirement, engaging in many ministries in the city and serving as sub-prior of the Dominican community.
His gentle and wise humanity won him much affection, and he supported his Dominican brothers in a multitude of ways. His hobby of searching for valuable items in thrift shops, and then selling them at a profit to benefit his Dominican community, brought both amusement and admiration.
Besides his Dominican community, Father Haddad is survived by his sisters, Lillian Shaker and Janet Hurley, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Dominic Church in Washington on Oct. 12. Interment was in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Washington.
