Fr. George Leonard Cochran, O.P.

Rev. George Leonard Cochran, O.P., 84, a member of the Dominican Friars' Community of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas at Providence College, died peacefully on Holy Saturday morning, March 30, 2013 at Mohun Health Care Center, St. Mary of the Springs, Columbus, Ohio.Born George Hunter Cochran in Tampa, Fla., a son of the late George Cochran and Louise (Gailmard) Cochran, he attended Providence College's pre-ecclesiastical program (1947-1949). After working in the advertising department of a firm in Atlanta, Ga., he joined the U.S. Air Force in 1951 and served in Germany. In 1955, he was honorably discharged with the rank of staff sergeant and entered the Dominican Friars of the Central Province of St. Albert the Great at St. Peter Martyr Priory in Winona, Minn., receiving the religious name Leonard. He made his simple religious profession there on August 31, 1956. Fr. Cochran earned a B.A. in philosophy from St. Thomas Aquinas College in River Forest, Ill. (1958) and an M.A. in theology from Aquinas Institute of Theology in Dubuque, Iowa (1963). On June 2, 1962, he was ordained a priest at St. Rose Priory in Dubuque by the Most Rev. James J. Byrne, D.D., Archbishop of Dubuque. While assigned to St. Dominic and St. Thomas Priories in River Forest, Ill. (1963-1980), Fr. Cochran taught English and theology at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Ill., serving as chair of the English department (1964-1969) and subprior the Dominican Community (1968-1971). He earned an M.A. (1969) and Ph.D. (1976) in English from Loyola University in Chicago, Ill, where he also taught English (1969-1970), and an M.A. in liberal arts from St. John's College in Annapolis, Md. (1982).In 1980, Fr. Cochran joined the PC faculty, where he taught English, philosophy, and humanities before retiring with the rank of associate professor in 2002. He also served as assistant dean of undergraduate studies (1988-1989). At the 2001 Academic Convocation he received the PC President's Distinguished Faculty Award. He was moderator of the Rhode Island Alpha Chapter of Phi Sigma Tau (philosophy honor society, 1982-1983).In 1987, Fr. Cochran formally transfiliated from the Central Dominican Province of St. Albert the Great to the Eastern Dominican Province of St. Joseph, which includes Providence College. In 2008, due to declining health, Fr. Cochran moved to Mohun Health Care Center in Columbus, where he was lovingly cared for by the Dominican Sisters of Peace. A member of the Poetry Society of America, Fr. Cochran was a lyricist, prolific poet, scholar of the writing of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and a frequent reader at PC's Poetry and Fiction Series. He won America magazine's annual Foley Poetry Award (1999) and Yankee magazine's Annual Award for "3 Best Poems" (1998). His poetry was selected for the Poetry Society of America's 60th Anniversary Diamond Anthology (1971), and he was featured in International Who's Who in Poetry (1972) and Poets & Writers, Inc. 1977 Supplement. Poems and articles by Fr. Cochran also appeared in dozens of periodicals over the years, including The Atlantic Monthly, religious and scholarly journals, and literary magazines.Fr. Cochran is survived by two cousins and their spouses, as well as by his Dominican brothers.His body will be received into the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary in the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas at PC on Wednesday, April 3, at 4:00 p.m. A wake will follow until 7:00 p.m., when the Office of the Dead will be celebrated. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for him there on Thursday, April 4, at 10:00 a.m. Burial will follow in the Dominican Friars' Cemetery on the PC Campus. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to Providence College, Dominican Scholarship Fund, Office of Institutional Advancement, Providence College, Providence, RI 02918. Arrangements by Russell J. Boyle & Son Funeral Home, 331 Smith St., Providence. www.boyleandsonfuneralhome.com