A priest originally from China who taught at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul for 29 years before retiring in 1996 has died at age 91.

Father Peter Wang lived at Little Sisters of the Poor Holy Family Residence in St. Paul, which offers nursing home services, assisted living and hospice care. He died Sept. 12. His funeral Mass will be celebrated 10:30 a.m. Sept. 15 at the Chapel of the Little Sisters of the Poor, which is part of the same facility. Visitation will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the chapel, followed by a rosary at 9:45 a.m. Interment will be at Resurrection Cemetery in Mendota Heights.

Ordained a priest May 5, 1957, for the Archdiocese of Shenyang in China, Father Wang began serving at UST in 1967. He was incardinated into the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis July 20, 2020.

Bernard Brady, professor of theology and associate director of the Office for Mission at the University of St. Thomas, was a colleague of Father Wang from 1989 to 1996. He recalled him as “a delightful colleague,” dedicated to Scripture scholarship and committed to students and teaching.

“It seemed like he always just enjoyed his students and loved teaching,” he said, and was “very much at home in his vocation to be a college professor.”

Brady recalled being approached by a former student of Father Wang’s at an event for St. Thomas. Father Wang and the student had long since left the university, but the student told Brady what an impact the priest had made on his life. “I was amazed,” Brady said, recalling Father Wang’s “gentle presence.”