Brian Thomas Mullady O.P.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Fr. Brian Thomas Becket Mullady, OP, a Dominican friar of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, died from cardiac arrest on April 22, 2025, at Summit Hospital, Oakland, Calif.

He was born to John Robert and Jeanne Audrey (Gee) Mullady in Syracuse, N.Y. His father was an Air Force officer and Fr. Brian was raised in cities throughout the United States. He studied Medieval History and Latin at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before entering the novitiate of the Holy Name Province Dominicans.

After completing his formation with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and a Master of Divinity, he was ordained on June 16, 1972. He served at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Benicia, Calif., while completing his thesis for the M.A. in Theology, which he earned in 1973. While in Benicia, he told his major superior that parish ministry was deeply satisfying, but did not close the door to further study, if that were needed by the province. In 1975 he was assigned to teach at Daniel Murphy High School in Los Angeles, Calif. There, he learned he enjoyed teaching, and shortly thereafter, Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, invited him to teach moral theology at the Ignatius Institute and the Evening College at the University of San Francisco.

Recognizing his desire to teach at the university level, Fr. Brian was given permission to pursue a doctorate in Moral Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, Italy, which he completed summa cum laude in 1983 with a dissertation on the meaning of the term “moral” in St. Thomas Aquinas. He taught at the Angelicum through 1987 as an invited professor of Philosophy. He later became an assistant professor of Systematic Theology at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas. His distinguished teaching career included teaching positions at Holy Apostles Seminary, Cromwell, Conn., St. Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers, N.Y., and Campion College, San Francisco, Calif. He also had a close relationship with several women’s religious communities and taught courses for the Dominican Sisters of Nashville, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Carmelite Sisters in Alhambra, Los Angeles, Calif.

Fr. Brian is the author of more than 14 books written primarily for lay Catholics in which he combined his scholarly acumen with his excellent teaching skills, a translation of the commentary of the Book of Job by St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as several dozen academic articles and papers presented at conferences. He became a well-known fixture on EWTN television, appearing on over 140 television and radio programs, as well as a weekly radio theology broadcast, “Open Line Thursday”. He was a member of the International Society of St. Thomas Aquinas, and a Board Member and Doctrinal Consultant for the Institute on Religious Life, Chicago.

Fr. Brian is survived by his sister, Jill (Mullady) Bean and his brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Linda Mullady.

A vigil will be held at the chapel of the Priory of St. Albert the Great, 5890 Birch Court, Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held at the same location Wednesday, May 7, at 10 a.m. Burial will follow at St. Dominic’s cemetery in Benicia.

A memorial fund has been established to honor Fr. Brian. Gifts will support the education of Fr. Brian’s Dominican brothers still in formation. Please donate online at https://opwest.org/frbrianmullady