VENICE, Fla. — Retired Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, who led the southwest Florida diocese for nearly 20 years before his retirement in May, died on Oct. 7 at Sarasota Memorial Hospital after a brief illness. He was 76.
A funeral Mass was celebrated Oct. 14 at St. John XXIII Catholic Church in Fort Myers, followed by interment in the Bishops’ Crypt at Epiphany Cathedral in Venice.
Frank Joseph Dewane was born on March 9, 1950, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He was the third of the four children of Ben and Eleanor Dewane.
He studied at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, graduating in 1972. He then attended American University in Washington, from 1973 to 1975, earning a master’s degree in international administration. In 1975, the future priest and bishop went to work for NBC in Moscow and later worked for a subsidiary of PepsiCo in New York City.
He spent a year studying philosophy at the University of Notre Dame (1983-84) and went to Rome in 1984 to attend the Pontifical North American College. Ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Green Bay in 1988, then-Father Dewane was appointed in 1991 to serve as a member of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York City.
In 1995, he was transferred to the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” and was later appointed undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the post he held when he was named coadjutor for Venice.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed then-Msgr. Dewane as the coadjutor bishop of the Venice Diocese on April 25, 2006. In Venice, his episcopal ordination was July 25, 2006. When Bishop Nevins retired Jan. 19, 2007, Bishop Dewane automatically succeeded him.
He was a former chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development (2016-19).
Bishop Dewane is survived by his brother John (Jack) and two sisters, Margaret (Peggy), and Mary.
