Press Release
Friday, May 15, 2020
Message on the Passing of Mgr. Gérard Dionne
The Université de Moncton was very saddened to learn of the death of Mgr. Gérard Dionne.
Mgr. Dionne, who died at the age of 100 years and 11 months, had many achievements. He was born in Saint-Basile and was an eminent personality in northwestern New Brunswick, as well as a great friend to the Edmundston campus of the Université de Moncton.
Just before he turned 90, the Université de Moncton conferred on him an honorary doctorate in Religious Sciences at the May 2009 graduation ceremony on the Edmundston campus. He also kindly agreed to be roasted by the Fondation Saint-Louis-Maillet in 2007. This fundraising activity generated a profit of $27,000, a record at the time.
Mgr. Dionne wanted to share the students’ joy. Despite his advanced age, he was the celebrant at numerous baccalaureate Masses during graduation activities at the Edmundston campus.
Mgr. Dionne was ordained priest in spring 1948 and consecrated bishop in 1975 in Edmundston.
“Mgr. Dionne has always kept a very close eye on the development of the Université de Moncton. As fate would have it, he became a priest a year before the Edmundston campus moved from the military barracks into the new Simon-Larouche Pavilion when classes began in 1949. But most of all, I would say that he was very close to young people. He felt that students represented an exceptional wealth. His eyes lit up when he was talking to them,” remarked Jacques Paul Couturier, interim President and Vice-Chancellor of the Université de Moncton.
“We want to express our most sincere condolences to the members of his family and the friends that he was able to touch with his love, especially the Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Joseph de Saint-Basile community and the members of his religious congregation,” said Madeleine Dubé, Vice-President of the Edmundston campus.
The flags will be at half-mast on all three campuses of the Université de Moncton until noon on May 19.
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