Fr. Philip Gilbert, C.PP.S., 90, died at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 15, 2020 in the infirmary at St. Charles Center in Carthagena, Ohio. He had been in failing health.
 
Fr. Gilbert was born on February 17, 1930, in Chicago, to Philip Gilbert and Elizabeth Buffa. He entered the Missionaries of the Precious Blood in 1949 and was ordained on May 28, 1960.
 
In 1961, Fr. Gilbert was appointed to education ministry at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., which is sponsored by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. There he spent nearly five decades in ministry as a math professor at the college. He retired from teaching in 2016 and moved to St. Charles in 2017.
 
Fr. Gilbert loved his life as a priest, and he also loved Saint Joseph’s College. In fact, it was love at first sight, he once said. His older brother attended the college as well as some of his friends. When he went to visit, “as soon as I saw it, I fell in love.”
 
His parents, Italian immigrants who changed the family name from Gilberti to Gilbert, wanted both their sons to get a college education. They were in favor when Fr. Gilbert enrolled at the college that was to become his home for most of his adult life.

Preceded in death by his brother and sister-in-law, Hilary and Carol Gilbert, Fr. Gilbert was the last surviving member of his immediate family.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday, October 22, at St. Charles Center, the V. Rev. Jeffrey Kirch, C.PP.S., provincial director, presiding. Fr. William Stang, C.PP.S., will be the homilist. Due to current health restrictions, the funeral will be private. Burial will follow in the Community cemetery.