A young man kneels by the casket of Robert Frederick Drinan, SJ, ’42, lying in state at St. Ignatius Church the morning of February 3 prior to a noon funeral Mass. “So many young people here were inspired by his teaching,” said the Rev. William C. McInnes SJ in his homily, reported The Boston Globe. At the Mass Robert Koh, dean of Yale Law School, described Drinan’s power to engage students and colleagues, observing that Drinan “was not one of those lawyers who loves human rights but can’t stand human beings.”
Drinan taught more than 6,000 students during his career, according to the Georgetown University News, leaving an indelible impression on many. Appointed dean of Boston College Law School at age 36, he doubled the faculty and elevated its stature. “He went around the country and got great students and great faculty, just by the force of his personality,” Professor Robert Bloom J.D. ’71 told Monica Brady-Myerov of WBUR. Benjamin Uy ’09 told the radio reporter that in class his professors related their encounters with
Drinan, describing his passion for social justice. “Even though I didn’t know him, I feel him within me,” said the first-year law student.