'Legendary' brother was global citizen, St. Viator's first president

A religious brother, who taught the world over but also served on the committee that planned St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights and later was the high school's first president, has died.

Brother Leo V. Ryan lived at the Viatorian Province Center in Arlington Heights since his retirement in 1999, but he continued to write, travel the world and lecture well into his 80s. He died June 22, at the age of 89.

Ryan served at St. Viator for only two years, from 1972-1974, but his presidency of the administrative team changed its management style, and has endured to this day. Next week, the high school's newest president, Brian Liedlich of Barrington, will begin.

“Leo brought his whole career in management into the administration of the school,” says Br. Don Houde, who served as principal under Ryan. “He wanted to make (St. Viator) a significant educational experience for students.”

When Ryan was assigned to St. Viator, he was already well-credentialed in education. He had been associate dean of business at Marquette University, followed by two years as dean of the management department at Loyola University.

At St. Viator, he arrived just as administrators were launching a new curriculum, the “School within a School” concept. Four different academic programs offered students different opportunities for learning based on their individualized styles.

“The whole idea of creating a new format for education was quite progressive,” Houde said. The School Within a School program remained at the school for 15 years. “Leo helped get us off the ground and we were very successful.”

In 1974, Ryan left the high school to become dean of the business college at the University of Notre Dame. He was there for five years before he took over what is now called the Driehaus College of Business at DePaul University.

The Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, DePaul president, described Ryan as “legendary” and credited him with driving the success of the business college.

“He's the one who organized Chicago's corporate leaders and our many alums,” Holtschneider said. “Working together, they raised it from a regional to a nationally regarded school of business.”

According to a DePaul University biography, Ryan visited 190 countries and every continent. He was appointed director of the Peace Corps in Nigeria and won a Fulbright professorship at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland, to develop the first business curriculum in post-Communist Poland.

When Ryan retired as dean in 1988, he remained at DePaul as a professor of management, while also lecturing at the Helsinki School of Economics in Mikkili, Finland and teaching management at Mickiewicz University.

Ryan also co-authored eight books, and wrote more than 500 articles on business ethics and economic development in Poland.

But throughout his global career, his colleagues say, he always returned to St. Viator. He funded four scholarships in his name to help students afford its tuition, and he always attended its special events and dedications.

“Even with his many titles, being a Viatorian and a religious was the most important title of all for Br. Ryan,” said Fr. Thomas von Behren, provincial. “He embraced the vocation of being a brother and saw that he could have a significant impact in our world and church without being ordained.”

A memorial Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Boler Center at St. Viator High School, 1213 E. Oakton St. in Arlington Heights.