Father John M. “Jack” Hunthausen, SJ, died Oct. 12, 2025, in Florissant. A Jesuit who put both his practical skills and spiritual wisdom at the service of the Church, he was 88 years old, a Jesuit for 66 years and a priest for 55 years.
A Memorial Mass was to be celebrated Oct. 25 in the chapel of St. Ignatius Hall, the Jesuit Community at Garden Villas North in Florissant.
John M. Hunthausen was born in St. Louis on Jan. 2, 1937, the only child of Arthur J. and Agnes Donohue Hunthausen, who preceded him in death. He is survived by cousins, friends and his brother Jesuits.
A graduate of both St. Louis University High School and Saint Louis University, he entered the Society of Jesus on Feb. 8, 1959, at St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant and pronounced first vows on Feb. 11, 1961. He was ordained a priest on June 4, 1970, at the Saint Louis Cathedral by his cousin Raymond Hunthausen, bishop of Helena, Montana, and later archbishop of Seattle. He professed his final vows in the Society of Jesus on Dec. 8, 1975, at St. Francis Xavier (College) Church in St. Louis.
Following his time in the seminary, Father Hunthausen returned to Saint Louis University, where he completed a master’s degree in accounting. He taught Latin and religion at Regis High School for a year, then taught accounting for two years at Regis College (now University) in Denver. He did his theology studies at Regis College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he completed a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in sacred theology, as well as a Master of Divinity. Following his ordination, he went to the University of Missouri, where he earned a doctorate in accounting.
Upon completion of his doctorate, he returned to Regis to teach accounting and direct the MBA program that he helped to establish there.
In 1980, he was named president of Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri, where he served for six years.
He also served the Jesuit province as a consultor to the provincial from 1975 to 1984.
In 1986, he was missioned to Collegio Bellarmino in Rome. He served as treasurer and a host of other assignments for the next 16 years, including computerizing the treasurer’s office and updating public and private community spaces. While in Rome, he also ministered to several communities of the Missionaries of Charity.
He returned to the United States in 2002 for a brief sabbatical before taking up an assignment at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, first as an administrative assistant, then as director of spiritual formation.
In 2012, he joined the Jesuit Hall Community at Saint Louis University as a pastoral minister and moved with the community to St. Ignatius Hall in 2023.
Father Hunthausen found the diversity of his assignments over his life invigorating and fulfilling. After completing his assignment as president at Rockhurst High School, he requested an entirely different ministry and ended up in Rome. “God is the God of surprises,” he remarked on his 50th jubilee as a priest. “When I entered the novitiate … I had no idea where this pilgrimage would lead me.”
He was exceptionally generous and prayerful, often found in the chapel. And he was grateful: He became a Jesuit in part to express his gratitude to God. “My life has been filled with so many blessings that it would be impossible to name them all,” he said. “I have received more blessings than I have been a channel of. Seeing God working in and through others has been an amazing gift.”
Father Hunthausen donated his body to the Saint Louis University Medical School.
