"He viewed libraries as vital places of learning complementary to universities and prioritized outreach to underserved populations."
Timothy S. Healy, S.J. – (1923 –1992)
Timothy S. Healy, S.J. was president of the New York Public Library from 1989-1992. Healy nearly increased the library's endowment and sought to improve access to the local branches by poor children.
He lobbied successfully against budget cuts and for federal support (including for international library collaborations); restored full five-day service to all 82 branch libraries to better serve poor communities; and expanded the Andrew Heiskell Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. He viewed libraries as vital places of learning complementary to universities and prioritized outreach to underserved populations.
As president of the library, Healy frequented traveled to Washington to lobby for additional federal funding of libraries in general and of the New York Public Library in particular. During his tenure, he increased the library's endowment from $170 million to $220 million. One of his main focuses was on the improvement of the library system's local branches which were plagued by crime and open drug use, and on improving poor children's access to them. He also put into place a five-year plan for expanding the library system, which included establishing a new research branch, the Science, Industry and Business Library.
He donated most of his salary to the Jesuits, retaining a small amount for his living expenses. He also forwent the ample apartment on the Upper East Side that the library provided for its president, preferring to live in a more modest one in Midtown also owned by the library; he often spent time at America House. In correspondence, he adopted the style "Dr. Healy", rather than "Fr. Healy".
Healy suffered a heart attack on December 30, 1992. He was buried in the Jesuit cemetery at Georgetown University. His death was widely mourned as the loss of a dynamic leader who bridged religious and secular worlds while advancing education and public access to knowledge.
iographical information prior to New York Public Library
Rev. Timothy S. Healy, S.J. was a Jesuit priest, scholar of English literature, and influential university and library administrator.
He grew up in Manhattan and graduated from the Jesuit-run Regis High School in 1940.
At age 17, Healy entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He completed his novitiate and early college studies at St. Andrew-on-Hudson in Poughkeepsie, New York, earning a B.A. (1946) and M.A. (1948) from Woodstock College in Maryland.
From 1947 to 1950, he taught English and Latin at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx. He then studied theology at the Facultés St. Albert in Louvain, Belgium (ordained a priest in 1953 and earning a licentiate in sacred theology in 1954), followed by a year of prayer, study, and ministry at the Instituto del Santo Duque in Valencia, Spain. He later earned an additional M.A. in English literature from Fordham University (1959) and a D.Phil. from Oxford University (1965), where he wrote his dissertation on the poetry of John Donne under Dame Helen Gardner.
Healy taught English at Fordham University (1955–1962), where he also directed alumni relations, and later served as associate professor and executive vice president. In this role, he helped expand academic programs, including launching a liberal arts college and recruiting notable faculty such as Margaret Mead and Marshall McLuhan.
In 1969, he became vice chancellor for academic affairs at the City University of New York (CUNY), where he championed open-admissions policies that dramatically increased access for minority and low-income students-raising minority enrollment from about 5–23% to 30–46% across the system's 20 colleges and serving a peak of 253,000 students by 1975. He often described these years as focused on the clear mission of educating the urban poor.
In 1976, Healy was appointed the 46th president of Georgetown University (the oldest Catholic university in the United States), serving until 1989. During his 13-year tenure, he oversaw significant growth elevating Georgetown into the top tier of American research universities alongside institutions like Notre Dame. Healy served as chairman of the American Council on Education and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and was a leading voice in Catholic higher education.
Selected Publications
Healy, Timothy S., S.J. "Introductions to the Library." Biblion: The Bulletin of the New York Public Library 1, no. 1 (Fall 1992): 3–4.
Healy, Timothy S., S.J. "Libraries and Learning." The Bookmark 48, no. 3 (Spring 1990): 199–201.
Healy, Timothy S., S.J. "Homily." In Sponsorship/Partnership: 1984 Annual Meeting Papers, 46. Washington, DC: Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, 1984.
Healy, Timothy S., S.J. "Belief and Teaching." Daedalus 110, no. 4 (Fall 1981): 163–75.
Donne, John. Ignatius His Conclave: An Edition of the Latin and English Texts with Introduction and Commentary. Edited by Timothy S. Healy, S.J. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.
Gardner, Helen, and Timothy S. Healy, eds. John Donne: Selected Prose. Chosen by Evelyn Simpson. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967.
Sources
Duffy, Martha. 1990. "Timothy Healy: New Page for an Old Bookworm." Time, May 28. https://time.com/archive/6714980/timothy-healy-new-page-for-an-old-bookworm/.
Prial, Frank J. "Timothy S. Healy, 69, Dies; President of Public Library." The New York Times, January 1, 1993, sec. A, 21. https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/01/nyregion/timothy-s-healy-69-dies-president-of-public-library.html.
"Timothy S. Healy Appointed President of New York Public Library." College & Research Libraries News 50, no. 6 (June 1989): 492–93.
Timothy S. Healy Records, 1980–1992 (bulk 1989–1992). Mss Arc 4872. New York Public Library Archives, The New York Public Library.
42.8 cubic feet of records created by the New York Public Library Board of Trustees, President's Office, during and immediately surrounding Healy's presidency. Housed in the Manuscripts and Archives Division and includes correspondence, speeches, internal memoranda, reports, and other materials on library operations, funding, public service, and outreach.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In honor of the Sesquicentennial (150th Anniversary of ALA) in 2026, the Library History Round Table is hosting Librarians We Have Lost, Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026. This collage of tributes seeks to honor librarians who died between 1976-2026. The tributes are published to ALA Connect, a digital memorial on LHRT News & Notes, and ALA's institutional repository (ALAIR).
We invite tributes from anyone about any library worker who passed away between 1976-2026. To submit a tribute, please use the form at https://lhrt.news/librarians-we-have-lost-sesquicentennial-memories-1976-2026-2/
For questions or comments, please reach out to Dr. Kathleen McCook (kmccook@usf.edu) or Brett Spencer (dbs21@psu.edu).
Timothy S. Healy - Wikipedia
------------------------------
Brett Spencer
Reference Librarian
Thun Library, Penn State Berks
He/Him/His
------------------------------