Jesuit Father G. Richard Dimler, Baltimore native and Jesuit emblem researcher, dies at 88

Jesuit Father G. Richard “Dick” Dimler, a former professor of German literature at what is now Loyola University Maryland and a Jesuit emblem researcher, died April 14. He was 88.

Born in Baltimore on Oct. 21, 1931, he graduated from Loyola Blakefield in Towson and entered the Jesuit novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pa. in 1950. He attended Loyola Seminary in Shrub Oak, NY, where he received his bachelor’s degree and licentiate in philosophy. He also received a licentiate in sacred theology from Woodstock College in Maryland and was ordained a priest on June 16, 1963.

Following ordination, Father Dimler received a master’s degree in German from Middlebury College in Mainz, Germany and a doctorate in German literature from UCLA.

He taught German literature at Loyola for two years beginning in 1970. He then began what would become a 34-year tenure at Fordham University in the Bronx. In addition to teaching German literature, he taught computer science after earning a master’s degree in computer education from Iona College. He also was the editor of the university’s quarterly publication, “Thought.”

According to an obituary prepared by the Jesuits, Father Dimler became a research professor of Jesuit emblem studies in 1999. He would later publish books on the subject.

Father Dimler later served as a pastoral minister at St. Mark’s Parish in Venice, Ca., and in 2009, returned to Wernersville to serve in pastoral ministries at the Center for Spiritual Growth. In his later years, he lived at the Colombiere Jesuit community in Baltimore, continuing his Jesuit emblem research.

 

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