James F. Hitchcock *65

Jim died July 14, 2025, of Parkinson’s disease in St. Louis. He was 87. 

Born Feb. 13, 1938, in St. Louis, Jim graduated from St. Louis University in 1960 with a degree in philosophy and a minor in history. He earned a Ph.D. in history from Princeton in 1965. His dissertation topic was “Popular Religion in Elizabethan England.” 

After Princeton, Jim taught at St. John’s University in New York for a year before joining the faculty of St. Louis University in 1966. He remained at St. Louis until his retirement in 2013. 

The history of the Catholic Church was the principal focus of Jim’s research and teaching. He was the author of 12 books, including The Supreme Court and Religion in American Life and History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium. An expert on church history, his articles and syndicated columns were a fixture in Catholic magazines and newspapers. 

He was predeceased by his wife, Helen, in 2014. Jim is survived by his daughters, Alexandra, Consuela, Hilary, and Louisa; and six grandchildren.