John "Jack" Egan, 86, died peacefully on January 29, 2021 at the Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice in Fredon Township, NJ. A natural burial service was held in Rosemont, NJ.
Born and raised in North Bergen, NJ, Jack lived in Jersey City before moving to Highland Lakes, NJ in 2002.
He was ordained a Diocesan Catholic priest in 1960 and served parishes in Lodi, Honduras and Panama. One of the most meaningful periods of his life was the nearly 20 years he spent in the St Boniface parish in Jersey City, working with a mostly Latino community. He was an active member of the peace movement and engaged extensively in non-violent civil disobedience around peace and justice issues, for which he was arrested 30 times, in Jersey City, Washington, DC and other places. After disassociating from the ordained priesthood in 1985, Jack worked for the Visiting Homemeaker Service as a patient advocate, trainer and director of the Senior Community Indipendent Living Service. One of the essential loves of his life was his beloved wife, Martha Lewin, with whom he shared a 50 year relationship. In his later years he volunteered at The Nurturing Place of the York Street Project in Jersey City, which he loved. He also spent many joyful hours volunteering at Pacem in Terris in Warwick, NY. He took to wearing a red plaid hat with a red pompon on top, which he called his gladdening hat and was delighted by peoples' positive responses.
Jack authored four books: Baptism of Resistance: Blood and Celebration (1983), A Priest Forever and No More (1998), Pilgrimage Within (2012) and The Colors Love Each Other (2019), as well as having many articles and interviews in local and national publications. He was a member of the Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast and the Kairos Community in NYC.
Memorial donations can be made to the Pacem in Terris Museum (www.frederickfranck.org/pacem-in-terris), 96 Covered Bridge Road, Warwick, NY 10990.
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