Rev. Robert D. Kenney, OSFS ’42
June 21, 1924 – January 9, 2008

Rev. Robert Kenney, OSFS ’42, a Catholic priest; Oblate of St. Francis de Sales; former teacher, athletic director, principal and president of Salesianum School; and 1999 Delaware State Sports Hall of Fame inductee, died of lymphoma on Wednesday night. He was 83 years old.

Fr. Kenney’s Oblate assignments included all but one year spent at Salesianum. He was a teacher of mathematics and director of athletics at Salesianum School (1953-1966 and 1967-1992), principal of Salesianum School (1969-1977), president of Salesianum School (1977-1997), and moderator of the Salesianum Alumni Association (1997-2001). Fr. Kenney retired in 2001 and moved to the DeSales Centre in Childs, MD in 2005.

Fr. Kenney coached Salesianum’s baseball team for 34 years. During his tenure, Salesianum never had a losing record during the regular season. He coached the Salesianum team to state championships in 1976 and 1979, and they were runners-up in 1977 and 1988. In 1982, Kenney was named Delaware’s Scholastic Baseball Coach of the year. Kenney was also elected to the Delaware Sports of Fame in 1999 and to Salesianum’s Alumni Hall of Fame in 2004. After 579 games, 411 wins and a .711 winning percentage, Fr. Kenney retired from coaching in 1992, having spent the most time at one school in Delaware as the head baseball coach.

Born June 21, 1924 in Wilmington, Fr. Kenney was the son of the late William Kenney and the late Eleanor [Durney] Kenney. Fr. Kenney graduated from St. Thomas the Apostle Parochial School (1938) and Salesianum four years later. He attended the Corcoran-Bryan Naval Prep School during the 1942-43 school year and then entered the Oblates in August 1943, professing first vows on Sept. 10, 1944.

After receiving a BA in Philosophy from Catholic University (1949) and completing his theological studies at DeSales Hall in Washington, DC, he was ordained on June 7, 1952 in St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wilmington by the Most Rev. Edmond J. FitzMaurice. Fr. Kenney also received an MA in Mathematics from Catholic University in 1954, and an MA in Educational Administration from Villanova University in 1968.

Arrangements: A viewing will be held on Friday, Jan. 18, 2008 from 4 to 7 p.m. at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 901 N. DuPont Street, Wilmington, DE, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 7:15 p.m. A second viewing will be held on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008 from 9-10 a.m. at the DeSales Centre at 1120 Blue Bell Road in Childs, MD. Interment will take place at 10 a.m. in the Oblate Cemetery at the DeSales Centre in Childs, MD.

Please Note: The Oblates request that, in lieu of flowers, contributions to be sent in Fr. Kenney’s memory to Salesianum School, 1801 N. Broom Street, Wilmington, DE 19802; or to the Oblate Retirement Fund, 2200 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, DE 19806.