San Jose, CA – Bellarmine College Preparatory held its 42nd President’s Award Dinner the evening of May 11 on the Leo J. and Mary G. Lucas Quad of its campus in San Jose. More than 200 guests attended the donor recognition event, hosted in gratitude for those contributing to the school at the President’s Club level and above.
The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the President’s Award to Fr. Richard Cobb, S.J., who is marking his 73rd year as a Jesuit and who has served the Bellarmine community for numerous years. His assignment to Bellarmine began in 1957 and, in addition to early positions in the English classroom and as an athletic coach, more recently he has provided service in the offices of Admissions and Adult Spirituality. In 2021, Fr. Cobb, who is now 90 years old, was missioned by the Jesuits West Province to Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, although he remains engaged with the Bellarmine community, continuing as a director of its 19th Annotation Retreats.
During his remarks at the event, Bellarmine president Chris Meyercord, who was a student of Fr. Cobb’s in his freshman English class in the mid-1980s, noted that Fr. Cobb’s “gift of Ignatian Spirituality, of helping people to know and love God better …”, is his true legacy.
Mr. Meyercord also acknowledged that the unique award presented to Fr. Cobb that evening had been designed and created by Bellarmine junior David Le who, supervised by faculty member David Dutton, produced the award in the school’s Maker Lab facility.
As one would expect from Fr. Cobb, his acceptance speech reflected humility and he turned the tables to thank those in attendance, and all those with whom he has journeyed, for enriching his life, saying “As I look back on my Bellarmine 35 years, I realize how much God has blessed me. Repeat: How God has blessed me. And so have all of you.”