March 6, 2024
St. John’s University mourns the passing of John V. Brennan ’63C, ’66L, ’93HON, distinguished alumnus, generous benefactor, and patriarch of one of the most consequential families in the long story of the University.
When it first opened on September 27, 2004—the feast day of St. Vincent de Paul—St. Thomas More Church at the Queens, NY, campus was one of the final components of the University’s Master Plan, which saw St. John’s evolve from a commuter school to a residential University. Construction of the church was made possible by an extraordinarily generous gift from John V. Brennan and his late wife, Anita. They remain two of the most generous and significant benefactors in the 154-year history of St. John’s.
“The impact of the Brennan family on St. John’s is transformational,” remarked Rev. Michael J. Carroll, C.M. ’09HON, who served at the University from 1992 until 2008 and as Executive Vice President for Mission was involved in the design and construction of the church. “Mr. Brennan wanted a prominent place on campus where students could go and meet God in prayer and community, and St. Thomas More Church provides just that. Their impact on St. John’s will endure long after all of us; what a wonderful blessing.”
The name St. Thomas More Church reflected the admiration and devotion Mr. Brennan, a well-respected and successful attorney, had for St. Thomas More, the patron of the legal profession, 16th-century literary scholar, eminent lawyer, father, and chancellor of England. Mr. Brennan was a man who held firm to his personal convictions and will be remembered for the tenacity of his Catholic beliefs.
In many ways, the Brennan family made a dream come true for St. John’s and generations of students in posterity.
During the opening liturgy, Julia A. Upton, R.S.M., Ph.D., Provost Emerita and retired Distinguished Professor of Theology, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, explained, “The architectural plans drawn up for this campus in 1954 include a church on this very site. For half a century, members of the University community held fast to this dream and never relinquished it.”
For much of that period, the University community worshipped and gathered in the Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes, a small space in Lourdes Hall.
Of the many striking and symbolic features of the church, one notable is its 9/11 memorial, which commemorates the tragic losses of September 11, 2001. The memorial includes an embedded, cross-welded piece of salvaged iron from the World Trade Center site, featuring two cascading waterfalls and granite shafts designed to resemble the fallen Twin Towers. The shrine stands as a lasting monument to victims of the attacks that day—among them, Thomas More Brennan, a son of the church’s patrons.
Since opening, the church has been the site of countless Masses, ceremonies, memorial services, and sacraments, including weddings and baptisms, and grace-filled moments for students and the St. John’s family.
Family was a vital part of the life of John and Anita Brennan, who treasured their five children and 15 grandchildren. Like their father, a graduate of the University’s School of Law, two children, John O. Brennan ’90L and Mary Beth Brennan ’99L, followed their father’s path to St. John’s.
An unwavering commitment to St. John’s Men’s Basketball is another shared family trait that even extends to the next and youngest generation of Brennans. The Brennan family was one of the 31 founding families of the Red White Club, the premier giving society for supporters of St. John’s Athletics since its inception in 1983. Frequent and generous supporters of St. John’s Athletics, the Brennan family was inducted to the Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the 2014–15 class. Their love of family is also measured by the countless charitable organizations and learning institutions that were the beneficiaries of their generosity.
Born to humble beginnings and with a childhood that stressed family values, faith, patriotism, service, and education, Mr. Brennan would graduate from Harlem’s Rice High School where he was on the Track and Field team, and later became one of the institution’s primary benefactors. Throughout their lives, he and his wife supported many other organizations, including The Interfaith Nutrition Network, which named him the first recipient of its “Innkeeper of the Year” award in 1987. In addition, he served the Board of Trustees of the Papal Foundation, the organization charged with assisting the Holy See, and was a Steward of St. Peter and a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre.
After serving his country in the Korean War era, Mr. Brennan’s professional career started even before earning his baccalaureate degree in English from St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1963. He joined the United States Aviation Underwriters, the largest aviation insurance organization in the world and never left, assuming positions of ever-increasing responsibility within the corporate structure until he retired as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
St. John’s recognizes in John Brennan, and Anita, his wife of 61 years who predeceased him on January 6, 2023, the combined ideals of education and giving back, which are a special part of a Catholic, Vincentian education. An eminently successful attorney and devoted Catholic layperson, Mr. Brennan was a paradigm of the Vincentian mission.
John and Anita Brennan’s personal initiative and great generosity allowed St. John’s University to realize a dream. The legacy of St. Thomas More Church, like the University it calls home, is a living place for prayer, worship, and education.