Mario L. Capitolo, SJ

Friday, Nov. 18, 2016

Oct. 15, 1925 - June 10, 2016

Jesuit Father Mario Luigi Capitolo, 90, died June 10, 2016 at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, Los Gatos, Calif.

Mario Luigi Capitolo was born in Salt Lake City and grew up in Price, where he attended Notre Dame School. During World War II, he attended Marquette University as part of a Navy training program and received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering as an officer in the Navy Reserve in 1946. After working a year as a design engineer in a Milwaukee manufacturing plant, he returned to Marquette in a pre-seminary program. 

He entered the Jesuit novitiate in Los Gatos in August 1948, and continued his studies at Gonzaga University and Santa Clara University.

He was ordained a priest in June 1959. His ministry of teaching was spent at Ryan Preparatory College, Fresno, 1954-1956; and following graduate studies in physics at St. Louis University, at Bellarmine College Preparatory, in San Jose, Calif., 1962-2005. 

During his 43 years at Bellarmine, Mario taught physics, and in his later years curated the physics laboratory in the science building he helped design. He had a reputation for being a fine teacher with an ability to design experiments and demonstrations that caught the imagination of his students.

He retired to Sacred Heart Jesuit Center for a ministry of prayer in 2005. He was predeceased by his sister, Marie Vaughan; and brothers Father Paul Capitolo, S.J., and Philip Capitolo. 

He is survived by many nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated June 18 at the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos.