‘A GENUINE SOUL’

Siena junior Connor Rock will always remember the warmth that Brother F. Edward Coughlin, OFM, brought to the college and the student body.

“I can’t think of anyone who had the ability to just make someone feel happy and warm and safe like him,” said Rock, during a memorial Mass for the man known as ‘Brother Ed.’ “Not many people have that ability and he excelled at it.”

The Mass was held at Siena College on Sept. 17 in remembrance of the university's beloved president who died July 30 following complications during non-emergency heart surgery. The Very Rev. Kevin Mullen, OFM, ’75, Provincial Minister of Holy Name Province and former Siena College president, celebrated the Mass held in a packed Alumni Recreation Center. Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, presider, and members of the Coughlin family, including Brothers Ed’s siblings, their spouses, his nieces and nephews and extended family from the South Buffalo area, also attended.

Prior to Mass, a slideshow above the altar showed pictures of Brother Ed welcoming students to campus or attending Siena events. Students at the service spoke of Brother Ed’s lasting impact on the student body, especially at the “Blessing of the Brains,” an annual Siena tradition where students can have their brains blessed before finals week. 

“With the “Blessing of the Brains,” he blessed my brain every time,” Rock said. “Just seeing him interact with all his students and the community here, he was inspiring. He was just a genuine soul.” 

A Buffalo native, Brother Ed graduated from St. Bonaventure University in 1970. He was a Siena trustee and vice president for Franciscan mission at his alma mater, and served twice as director of St. Bonaventure’s Franciscan Institute. Brother Ed had been president of Siena College since 2014. 

“There is a string in the experience of death,” said Father Mullen during the Mass. “And sadly on July 30, all of us gathered in this room experienced once again the sting of death. It touched the Coughlin family, it touched the Franciscan family, it touched the communities of St. Bonaventure University (and) Siena College.” 

“We are gathered here .... because our faith teaches us that July 30 was not the final chapter of Ed Coughlin's life,” he added. “July 30 was a transition period, it was a passageway; July 30 was the day in which he entered into a new experience of God's love.”

In a video made by the college, titled “Remembering Our Brother,” one could clearly see the humor and warmth Brother Ed brought to Siena. The crowd laughed when Brother Ed gave students a tour of campus in a golf cart and happily announced, “We’re going to town for a beer, we’ll be back!” And eyes were filled with tears when students recounted memories of Brother Ed greeting them in the halls, talking to them about their day, and no matter how busy he was, always remembering everyone's name. 

The memorial service was held on the Feast of the Stigmata of Francis of Assisi, a feast day celebrated within the Franciscan community commemorating when St. Francis bore the marks of the crucified Christ on his hands, feet and side. The feast is to serve as a reminder of the power of love. 

“Brothers and sisters that is the message that I know our Brother Ed would leave for us,” said Father Mullen. “Because he loved the Franciscan tradition, he loved what Francis taught him, he loved the image of footsteps of Christ … Ed walked in those footsteps.  Ed served in the order as an example for all of us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, and it is in walking those footsteps that the sting of death is healed.”

At the end of Mass, John Murray '79, chair of the College's Board of Trustees, announced the founding of the Br. F. Edward Coughlin O.F.M., Endowment to Advance Franciscan Values. 

The endowment will support the Siena mission and its intrinsic connection to the values of St. Francis of Assisi. It was founded by the Coughlin family and their in-laws, the Pingelski family. Siena's Board and the friars of the Holy Name Province have already raised $1 million in support of the endowment, and the College hopes to raise another $1 million. 

"We want to make sure Brother Ed's love for Siena's Franciscan tradition continues," Murray said. "Let us continue to live the Franciscan values that Brother Ed taught us."