Visitation, funeral set for the Rev. John Smyth, former Maryville Academy leader
Funeral arrangements have been set for the Rev. John P. Smyth, the longtime leader of Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, who died Tuesday.
A funeral Mass is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday, April 26, at the Chapel of Saint Joseph at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located next to Maryville at 1170 North River Road. The shrine's rector, the Very Rev. Esequiel Sanchez, will preside. Interment will be private across the street at All Saints Cemetery.
Visitation is planned from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 25, at the chapel.
Smyth, 84, captained the University of Notre Dame's basketball team and was chosen by the St. Louis Hawks in the first round of the 1957 NBA Draft, but chose the priesthood instead. He was assigned to Maryville after ordination in 1962 and became its executive director in 1970 - a position he held until 2004. He started the Standing Tall Charitable Foundation in 2005, and was president of Notre Dame College Prep in Niles from 2006 to 2014.