Father Gerald Joseph Fitzsimmons, S.M.M., former pastor of St. Mary Gate of Heaven Parish, Ozone Park, died July 19, after a battle with ALS. He was 76. 

Born and raised in St. Teresa of Avila parish, South Ozone Park, he attended high school at Montfort Seminary, Bay Shore, and then entered the Montfort Novitiate in Hartford City, Ind., where he professed vows Aug. 15, 1967. 

He received his undergraduate degree and Master of Divinity from St. Louis University and was ordained a Montfort priest Feb. 22, 1975. He served at Infant Jesus Parish, Port Jefferson, L.I., 1974-79, and at St. Mary Gate of Heaven, Ozone Park, 1981–86. He was pastor at St. Mary Gate of Heaven from 2009 to 2018. 

A message posted on the website of St. Mary Gate of Heaven Parish read, in part, “Father Fitz, as he was warmly called, was an integral part of St. Mary Gate of Heaven throughout his priesthood. Father Fitz’s passion was to prepare the parents and students for the sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation. Many of the activities we still do started with Father Fitz. He will be missed and remembered by many parishioners past and present.” 

Father Fitzsimmons also spent time as a preacher of parish missions and retreats, traveling and preaching across the country. From 1993 to 2006, he served as Provincial Superior of the Montfort Missionaries in the U.S. For many years, he assisted victims of clergy abuse both nationally and internationally. 

He is survived by his sister, Margaret McAlvannah, and her family, his brothers and sisters in the Montfortian Family, and the extraordinary number of people whose lives Father Fitz touched in his nearly 50 years of priesthood. 

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Wednesday, July 24, at the Sacred Heart Chapel of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Brentwood. Burial was in St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Bay Shore, L.I.