137th Year of Service to the Cleveland Diocese
Obituaries
Brother Collins, national leader in secondary education, dies at 74
Catholic News Service
Minneapolis
Christian Brother Michael Collins, president of DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis
since 1991 and a longtime member of the board of directors of the National Catholic
Educational Association, died Jan. 8 in Minneapolis after a brief battle with
lung cancer. He was 74.
The disease was diagnosed less than a month before his death, and Brother Collins
entered hospice care just three days before he died.
DAVE HRBACEK, CATHOLIC SPIRIT/CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
Christian Brother Michael Collins, educator and longtime board member for the National Catholic Educational Association, died Jan. 8 in Minneapolis after a brief battle with lung cancer. He was 74. Brother Collins is pictured in a 2007 photo.
Brother Collins served on the NCEA board from 1996 to 2004 and was president of the national Catholic secondary schools department from 1996 to 2000 and vice chairman of the full board from 2001 to 2004.
He also served on the boards of trustees for both St. Mary's University of Minnesota and Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill.; chaired the Minnesota Independent Schools Forum, a consortium of all private and independent schools in the state; and was appointed by then‑Gov. Tim Pawlenty to the Council on Black Minnesotans, where he served two terms and was chairman from 2008 to 2010.
In a letter announcing his death, Barry Lieske, DeLaSalle principal, called Brother Collins "our friend, mentor, alumnus, colleague, choral director and beloved president" and said the facts of an obituary cannot tell the full story of his life.
"The stories behind the obituary will forever be told of a one‑of‑a‑kind man who was respected, talented, beloved by many ‑‑ all because he cared so deeply for the people and principles he held close to his heart," Lieske wrote. "We will miss him. We will do our best to honor him by never relinquishing those principles."
Brother Collins grew up in north Minneapolis and was a 1955 graduate of DeLaSalle. Inspired by the Brothers of the Christian Schools who taught there, he took his initial vows in the Catholic teaching order in 1957.
He earned a bachelor's degree in religious studies and a master's in music from what was then St. Mary's College of Minnesota; a master's in secondary school administration from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul; and a doctorate in private school leadership from the University of San Francisco.
Brother Collins began his teaching and administrative career at DeLaSalle, 1959‑1967, and also served at Shanley High School in Fargo, N.D., 1967‑1980, and St. Mary's College High School in Berkeley, Calif., 1980‑87. He returned to the Twin Cities in 1987 as co‑principal of Cretin‑Derham Hall High School in St. Paul.
During his tenure at DeLaSalle over the past two decades, school enrollment more than doubled, a more than $25 million endowment was raised and an academic environment was created in which at least 96 percent of graduates have matriculated to college in each of the past 10 years.
More than two years, he had announced his intent to retire at the end of the 2012‑13 school year, and the school had been preparing for the transition.
An accomplished vocalist, Brother Collins also earned acclaim as a choral director, leading the men's chorus of DeLaSalle to the World's Fair in 1964 as an official representative of Minnesota and the men's chorus of Shanley to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington in 1971 and 1978.
Barbara A. Keebler, NCEA director of communications, said Brother Collins "also contributed his exceptional vocal ability to many association events."
"At the opening session of the Atlanta convention in 2006, he received word of his dear father's passing just moments before he was called upon to sing," Keebler recalled. "With considerable courage, Brother Michael went ahead and gave a stirring rendition of the national anthem.
"Afterward, when thanked for this great moment of grace and generosity, he simply replied, 'I could not let NCEA down,'" she added. "I recall thinking that this fidelity was the best tribute a son could give to a father ‑‑ this and a lifetime commitment to Catholic education."