Fr. Ronald Gerard DesRosiers, SM, died peacefully in Framingham, Massachusetts on Aug. 9, 2026.
Ronald Gerard DesRosiers, was born in Framingham, Massachusetts on October 22, 1936, to Aurèle and Evelyn (Théroux) DesRosiers. He attended St. Stephen School in Framingham and Sacred Heart High School in Newton Center, both staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph. He began studies with the Marists at Maryvale Seminary in Bedford for two years of college, then Marist College and Seminary in Framingham, and Marist College in Washington. He did advanced studies at Laval University in Quebec, Georgetown University where he earned a Master of Science in French, and the North American College in Rome.
After novitiate in Staten Island, NY, he professed vows in the Society of Mary on September 8, 1957. He was ordained a priest on February 2, 1963, at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington by Marist Bishop Thomas Wade. Fr. DesRosiers was assigned as a teacher of French, Latin and Church History at Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods, Michigan from 1963-1978, 1980-81, 1986-90. He did a sabbatical in France and Italy and then taught for three semesters in Christchurch, New Zealand as part of a Marist teacher exchange. He had the opportunity to visit Marist mission territories in the South Pacific and his classmate Fr. John David Galvin. He also served for a short time as Catholic chaplain in Antarctica in 1979.
Fr. DesRosiers taught English and religion for a semester in 1981, in Senegal, which he always said was a difficult assignment. He found great joy in sharing the life and ministry of the Marist Brothers at Marist School in Chicago from 1982-86. He was invited to join the faculty of Madonna University in Livonia, MI, where he was an Assistant Professor of philosophy and ethics from 1990-2013.
As a senior Marist, Fr. Ron moved to St. Louis King of France Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he had already been celebrating Christmas and Easter Masses in French since 1990. As he needed more care, Fr. Ron moved to Marian Manor in South Boston from 2021-24, and then to St. Patrick in Framingham in 2024, where he enjoyed being only a mile away from where he grew up.
In addition to his lively and humorous teaching style, Fr. Ron was known as an educator who took great interest in his students. He was able to use his language skills to translate a French biography of St. Bernadette into English (Pauline Publications 2000). He was a delegate to the Marist General Chapter in Rome in 2000. Fr. Ron was an energetic homilist, a Marist of deep prayer, a person with an inviting smile and an infectious laugh.
He entered hospice care at St. Patrick Manor in July and died peacefully on August 9, 2026.
He is survived by his sister Anne (Armand "Butch") Bouchard of Harpswell, Maine; nephews and nieces: Michelle (Paul) Rousseau, Mark (Kristine) Bouchard, Sharon (Matthew) Fraioli, Carolyn (Charlie) Smith; grandnephews and nieces: Marissa (Alex) Stitt, P.J. (Brittani) Rousseau, Cameron Wade, Jessica Wade, Elisha Bouchard, Cabot Smith, Caitlin Smith, and his brothers in the Society of Mary.
Family and friends are invited to honor and remember Fr. DesRosier's life by celebrating his Funeral Mass in St. George Church, 74 School St. Framingham on Thursday morning, August 13th at 11 o'clock. Interment will take place in St. John the Baptist Cemetery, Brunswick, ME on Friday, at 11AM.
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