John J. Cavanaugh
| Rev. John J. Cavanaugh, C.S.C. | |
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| 14th President of the University of Notre Dame |
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In office 1946–1952 |
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| Preceded by | Hugh O'Donnell |
| Succeeded by | Theodore Hesburgh |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
John J. Cavanaugh January 23, 1899 Owosso, New York, United States |
| Died | December 28, 1979 (aged 80) South Bend, Indiana, United States |
| Alma mater | The University of Notre Dame, Pontificial Greogorian University |
| Profession | Priest |
The Rev. John J. Cavanaugh, C.S.C. (Jan. 23, 1899 – Dec. 28, 1979), a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, served from 1946 to 1952 as the 14th president of the University of Notre Dame, having previously served as its vice president since 1941.
Cavanaugh's family emigrated from the tri-County region of southwest County Wicklow, on the Cos. Carlow and Wexford border. They settled originally in Erinsville, Ontario and later trekked to the upper Middle West, settling in Owosso, MI. Cavanaugh was a first cousin to the Honorable John Franklin Kinney of Rochester, New York. The Kenney, Cavanaugh, and Keegan families are all native to the region around Coolkenno. As a child, John Cavanaugh served in the choir at Saint Paul’s Church in Owosso, Michigan. He assisted his father in the family’s grocery store, as well. He retained a lifelong connect to the town, having been baptized, confirmed and celebrating his first mass at Saint Paul’s. Entering Notre Dame in 1917, he earned his way through college working as a secretary for Presidents John W. Cavanaugh, C.S.C. (1905-1919) and James A. Burns, C.S.C. (1919-1922). Cavanaugh was an athlete, editor of the student-run The Observer, as well as student government president. In 1923, John Cavanaugh initially entered the automobile industry, working in the advertising department at Studebaker Corporation. He later served as private secretary to Henry Ford. In 1926, he left private industry to undertake religious discernment.
John Cavanaugh then took his master’s at Notre Dame in 1927, and a degree from the Gregorian University at Rome, Italy. Ordained in 1931, he was employed by his alma mater, University of Notre Dame. Cavanaugh was then assigned as prefect of religion from 1933 to 1938. Then he served as assistant provincial for the Congregation of the Holy Cross until 1940. In 1940, he was elevated to vice president of the university and in 1941 he was made Notre Dame’s president. According to the New York Times, Cavanaugh’s legacy at Notre Dame in the post-war years was “devoted to raising academic standards and reshaping the university administration to suit it to an enlarged educational mission and an expanded student body” and stressing “advanced studies and research” at a time when Notre Dame quadrupled in student census, undergraduate enrollment increased by more than half, and graduate student enrollment grew fivefold. Cavanaugh also established the Lobund Institute for Animal Studies and Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute. Cavanaugh also presided over the construction of the Nieuwland Science Hall, Fisher Hall, and the Morris Inn, as well as the Hall of Liberal Arts (now O'Shaughnessy Hall), made possible by a donation from I.A. O'Shaughnessy, at the time the largest ever made to an American Catholic university. Cavanaugh also established a system of advisory councils at the University, which continue today and are vital to the University's governance and development. In 1952, President Cavanaugh was required to resign as president in order to retain his position as a superior in the Holy Cross community. But he continued to serve the university as the Director of the Notre Dame Foundation. His successor was Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh.
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