A Malden native, he was born on Oct. 20, 1931, the oldest of three children of the late Vincent and Cecile Poirier. He attended local schools and then St. Francis High School, Staten Island, N.Y. and then went to Boston College, graduating in the class of 1957 with a B.A. in English. He was granted an M.A. degree from St. Mary University in Nova Scotia.

Prior to his entrance in 1981 to Pope St. John XXIII Seminary, he was a teacher in the Ashland Public Schools, assistant superintendent of schools, Norwell; director of personnel for the Montreal (QC) Catholic School Commission and Superintendent of Schools in Harvard, Mass.

Following his seminary studies, he was ordained to the priesthood for the archdiocese at St. Hyacinth Church, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia by the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Antigonish, the Most Rev. William E. Power.

During his 16 years of active priestly ministry he served as parochial vicar at St. Mary, Franklin (1985-1989); Lend Lease to the Archdiocese of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, (1989-1993) and as campus minister at both Framingham State College (now University) and Wellesley College (1993-2001); during the later assignment he was in residence at Corpus Christi in Newton's Auburndale section.

Bernard Cardinal Law granted him senior priest retirement status in July 2001. At the time, he told The Pilot that two priests of his youth affected his image of priests and his vocation, though a bit delayed from the usual, they were Msgr. Thomas Lane, pastor of Immaculate Conception, Everett -- "an extraordinary priest"; and Msgr. Francis Phelan, St. Cecilia, Boston -- a marvelous human being who took excellent care of me."

Father Poirier died on May 30, 2020, at Linden Ponds Extended Care Facility in Hingham, where he lived for many years following his retirement. He is survived by his sister Annette.

Funeral and committal services were private.