St. John’s University mourns the passing of Frank J. Coppa, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of History, St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the founding Director of the doctoral program in World History. He was a brilliant, internationally renowned scholar whose impact on the study of modern Catholic history was felt from the halls of the Queens, NY, campus to the Vatican and beyond. Dr. Coppa was 84 years old.

Dr. Coppa was a member of the faculty from 1965 to 2010 and was honored with the title of Professor Emeritus in 2012. Among his numerous accomplishments, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholar award and earned several National Endowment for the Humanities grants. He authored 12 pioneering books on critical topics such as the life of Pope Pius XII and the relationship between the papacy and the Holocaust. In addition, he introduced a groundbreaking course on the role of the papacy in the modern world.