Religious and Educational Leader.  He moved to America at age 21, attended Georgetown University and became a Jesuit lay brother in 1806.  McElroy taught at Georgetown and managed its finances until becoming a priest in 1817.  In 1822 he was appointed Pastor of St. John’s Church in Frederick, Maryland, where he remained for 23 years.  While there he founded several schools, including St. John’s Literary Institution, now Saint John’s Catholic Preparatory School.  McElroy was one of two unofficial Catholic chaplains during the Mexican War, the first time priests served the US military in any capacity.  After his military service McElroy was named pastor Boston’s St. Mary’s Church.  Impressed by the success of Worcester’s Holy Cross College, a residential school, McElroy began efforts to found a college for Boston’s expanding Irish Catholic population, which students could attend without residing on campus. After years of effort to secure a site and raise funds to erect a building, including a sizable donation from philanthropist Andrew Carney, in 1858 McElroy founded Boston College.  He served as its first President in 1863, the college accepted its first students in 1864, and McElroy returned to Frederick.  For several years he traveled the United States as a guest preacher and retreat leader, retiring when his vision began to fail in the early 1870s.  His efforts were critical to educating Irish-Americans when Catholics were denied admission to many universities in the 1800s and early 1900s.  Boston College’s McElroy Commons Building and McElroy Hall at Boston College High School are named for him. (bio by: Bill McKern)