Father Bill was a regular sojourner in the Holy Land, for many years curator of the museum in Jerusalem’s Pontifical Biblical Institute and its archaeological collection. He passed away on November 29, 2021 at the age of 85.
William J. Fulco was born in Los Angeles in 1936, entered the Society of Jesus in 1954 and was ordained in 1966. Father Fulco earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern languages and literatures from Yale University. He spent most of his life as a Jesuit in the world of the university. A popular teacher, Father Fulco’s courses covered a broad range of topics: God and the world of ancient Israel; ancient religions; music culture in ancient Palestine; ancient Near Eastern languages; Near Eastern archaeology; biblical archaeology and Old Testament studies; and classical numismatics.
He was the National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles for nineteen years until he retired in 2019. In recent years he became a well-known figure in Hollywood have been hired to translate certain dialogues for Mel Gibson’s epic “The Passion of the Christ” into Aramaic.
Father Bill’s visits to Jerusalem were happy occasions to reconnect with a vibrant and knowledgeable expert who loved to share his knowledge and followed what went on in the Holy Land with a passion.
May his memory be a source of blessing!
Jesuits in the Holy Land 
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