Paul David Fitt OSB

1945 - 2016

Brother Paul David Fitt OSB, 70

Collegeville, MN

December 8, 1945 - June 3, 2016

Brother Paul David Fitt died on June 2, at St. Cloud Hospital. A vigil prayer service will be held on June 8 at 7:00 p.m. in Saint John's Abbey and University Church. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for Brother Paul at 3:30 p.m. in Saint John's Abbey Church with interment following in Saint John's Cemetery.

Paul David Fitt was the second son of Joseph and Marie (Weglarz) Fitt Ehmke in Chicago, Illinois. After graduation from high school, Paul matriculated at Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota in the fall of 1963, where he majored in chemistry with minors in mathematics and secondary education. Paul graduated with a BS degree in 1967.

Following graduation from Saint John's University, Paul became a science instructor at the Melrose Junior High School, Melrose, Minnesota, from 1967-1969. In August 1969, Paul became an admissions counselor for Saint John's University. Responding to a call to religious life, Paul applied for the novitiate at Saint John's Abbey. Brother Paul professed vows as a Benedictine monk on July 11, 1972.

Following profession, Brother Paul was appointed the coordinator of data processing for the Saint John's Office of Admissions. He developed the initial automated student recruiting system from the outdated manual system. Brother Paul was then appointed assistant director of Financial Aid (1973-1974) and then acting director (1974-1975). From 1975-1977, he attended Oregon State University where he received an M. Ed. in Higher Education Administration with a minor in computer science.

Returning to Saint John's in 1977, Brother Paul was appointed assistant director of the Saint John's Computing Center. He performed analysis of user needs and programmed various administrative systems during a conversion period from second generation to third generation computing equipment applying computer languages COBOL and TOTAL DBMS. Brother Paul also taught programming courses to undergraduate students (1977-1980).

In 1980, Brother Paul was appointed the director of the Administrative Computing Center, Saint John's University. Brother Paul was appointed senior systems analyst of the Administrative Computing Center in 1989 and later became the senior project leader for Information Technology Services.  In 1991, Brother Paul received an award from Student Information System Users for presenting one of the five best software presentations allowing his rapid report writing against a large collegiate admission's database. Brother Paul retired from IT services in 2007.

Brother Paul will be remembered for his forty years of monastic presence and commitment of service to Saint John's; for his wry and ironic sense of humor, his enjoyment of storytelling, his love of cooking and classical music, and his simple lifestyle.

He is survived by an aunt, Helen Milos, sister-in-law Joan Fitt, nieces Lisa Heller and Kath Morrison, nephew James Fitt, 6 great nieces and nephews, numerous cousins, and the community of Saint John's Abbey.