Rev. Joseph O’Hare, former Fordham president, dies at 89

The Rev. Joseph O’Hare, the founding chairman of the city’s Campaign Finance Board and former president of Fordham University, died Sunday. He was 89.

“With unmatched integrity, fairness, and intelligence, Father O’Hare provided resolute leadership during volatile events that included public battles with sitting mayors and 9/11,” Frederick Schaffer, current chairman of the Campaign Finance Board, said in a statement.

The cause of death was not immediately known.

Former Mayor Ed Koch appointed O’Hare as board head in 1988, a role he held until 2003.

Along the way, he oversaw the city’s first payment of public funds to political candidates, a program at the heart of the city’s efforts to prevent monyed interests from acquiring undue influence.

“Since this program of public campaign finance is by far the most ambitious attempt by any municipality in the United States, I think it also represents a significant date for national politics,” O’Hare said during its launch.

The Jesuit priest was president of Fordham from 1984 to 2003. He “transformed Fordham from a strong regional commuter school to a national research university,” the institution said in a statement.

Born in the Bronx in 1931, O’Hare went to Regis High School on the Upper East Side before entering the Society of Jesus in 1949.

He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Fordham, and later became editor-in-chief of the Jesuit magazine America.

“Father O’Hare established a culture of conviction and integrity at the [finance board] that lasts to this day. This, more than even the structure of the organization, is what has made the [board] the national model it is today,” Amy Loprest, the board’s executive director, said in a statement.