Father Joe Carroll, a cheerful Catholic priest whose 40-year devotion to helping the homeless raised tens of millions of dollars and turned him into a San Diego icon, died Saturday night after a lengthy battle with diabetes. He was 80.
Known fondly as the "Hustler Priest," Carroll took what had been a small charity handing out peanut butter sandwiches downtown in the early 1980s and turned it into an assistance network for the poor that won awards and drew national media attention.
Now called Father Joe's Villages, it provides housing, food, health care, education, vocational training and other services to thousands of people annually.
"This guy touched more lives, did more good for more people, than any San Diegan has ever done," said David Malcolm, a businessman and philanthropist who served on the villages' board for 31 years. He said Carroll died at home in the East Village, where he had been in hospice care after a recent hospitalization.
See more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/obituaries/story/2021-07-11/father-joe-priest-dies
Known fondly as the "Hustler Priest," Carroll took what had been a small charity handing out peanut butter sandwiches downtown in the early 1980s and turned it into an assistance network for the poor that won awards and drew national media attention.
Now called Father Joe's Villages, it provides housing, food, health care, education, vocational training and other services to thousands of people annually.
"This guy touched more lives, did more good for more people, than any San Diegan has ever done," said David Malcolm, a businessman and philanthropist who served on the villages' board for 31 years. He said Carroll died at home in the East Village, where he had been in hospice care after a recent hospitalization.
See more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/obituaries/story/2021-07-11/father-joe-priest-dies
Father Joe Carroll, a cheerful Catholic priest whose 40-year devotion to helping the homeless raised tens of millions of dollars and turned him into a San Diego icon, died Saturday night after a lengthy battle with diabetes. He was 80.
Known fondly as the "Hustler Priest," Carroll took what had been a small charity handing out peanut butter sandwiches downtown in the early 1980s and turned it into an assistance network for the poor that won awards and drew national media attention.
Now called Father Joe's Villages, it provides housing, food, health care, education, vocational training and other services to thousands of people annually.
"This guy touched more lives, did more good for more people, than any San Diegan has ever done," said David Malcolm, a businessman and philanthropist who served on the villages' board for 31 years. He said Carroll died at home in the East Village, where he had been in hospice care after a recent hospitalization.
See more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/obituaries/story/2021-07-11/father-joe-priest-dies
Known fondly as the "Hustler Priest," Carroll took what had been a small charity handing out peanut butter sandwiches downtown in the early 1980s and turned it into an assistance network for the poor that won awards and drew national media attention.
Now called Father Joe's Villages, it provides housing, food, health care, education, vocational training and other services to thousands of people annually.
"This guy touched more lives, did more good for more people, than any San Diegan has ever done," said David Malcolm, a businessman and philanthropist who served on the villages' board for 31 years. He said Carroll died at home in the East Village, where he had been in hospice care after a recent hospitalization.
See more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/obituaries/story/2021-07-11/father-joe-priest-dies
