A priest of the archdiocese since his Feb. 10, 1965, ordination at Holy Cross Cathedral by Richard Cardinal Cushing, Father Richard J. Shmaruk died in Swampscott on Nov. 13, 2024. He was 84.

Born in Lynn on Feb. 20, 1940, and raised there, he was an alumnus of St. Mary Boys High School, Class of 1957. He entered the archdiocesan seminaries at Cardinal O'Connell, Jamaica Plain, then to the Brighton campus of St. John Seminary for both philosophy and theology formation for ordination.

His assignments over the years were almost entirely in parishes of the archdiocese save for a few years (1973-1977) when he was an associate director of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception -- "America's Church" -- in our national capital. During his years there, he also developed his writing skills and was a regular columnist for national publications, including The Priest.

Prior to his assignment in the Federal City, he served as an assistant at St. Agnes, Middleton, (1965-1968); and at St. Paul, Cambridge (1968-1974). The Cambridge parish was always associated with Harvard College and Radcliffe College and now with Harvard University. Although not assigned to the campus ministry the parish also hosted, he was nevertheless breathing the academic air in Harvard Square.

On his return to the archdiocese in 1977, he was appointed an associate at St. Camillus Parish, Arlington, (1977-1984) and later parochial vicar at St. Bridget, Framingham.

He was very much involved in the ecumenical activity of the archdiocese, serving on its ecumenical commission from its early years.

An interesting event in his life happened during his Cambridge assignment. It involved the aging Father Leonard Feeney, founder of the St. Benedict Center at Still River in Harvard. Father Feeney had been excommunicated and was nearing the end of his life. Boston's new Archbishop Humberto Medeiros and Worcester's Bishop Bernard Flanagan had both heard through intermediaries that Feeney might be open to a reconciliation. Father Shmaruk was asked to be the official mediator. With great understanding and tact, he helped the two bishops and Father Feeney accomplish the desired reconciliation. Both Father Feeney and Father Shmaruk were natives of Lynn.

In 1991, Bernard Cardinal Law named him pastor of St. Columbkille Parish, Brighton, which was going through dramatic demographic shifts. The huge parish plant at the corner of Market and Arlington Streets in Boston's Brighton section was aging. During his 15 years at the parish, he saw the decline in school population, leading to the closure of the parish's high school. He sold the high school building and the convent using monies to support the remaining grammar school. None of this was easy for the pastor and nor especially for many of the longtime parishioners who still lived in the parish. Left to subsequent pastors was the restoration of the parish church and the rescue of the grammar school by a partnership with Boston College managed by the present pastor, Father Richard W. Fitzgerald.

From Brighton, he moved to Woburn as pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in the Tanner City's north side. He served there from 2006 to 2018, when he was granted senior priest retirement status. He returned to Swampscott, where the family had moved from Lynn in later years. For the past several years, he had been in declining health.