American ecclesiastic, a Roman Catholic priest and the Archbishop of St. Louis. Known for low-key but effective leadership, May was elected vice president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) in 1983 and became its president three years later. Considered quiet-spoken, moderate and meditative, he began his Episcopal career as auxiliary Bishop in Chicago then Bishop of Mobile, Alabama for ten years before becoming Archbishop of St. Louis in 1980.
May was the oldest of four children born to a florist and his wife. He has two living sisters. He attended parochial school in Evanston, and then began training for the priesthood at Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, completing the work at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois, where he received his M.A. degree in philosophy in 1945 and an S.T.L. in theology in 1947. He was ordained a priest on 5/03/1947.
He was assistant pastor of St. Gregory Church in Chicago from 1947-1956 and chaplain at Chicago’s Mercy Hospital from 1956-1959. He was vice president and general secretary of the Extension Society, a national Catholic agency concerned with domestic missions in America and its territories, from 1959-1967 and its president from 1967-1969. In 1968 and 1969 he was pastor of another church in Chicago, and his part-time assignments into the late ‘60s included teaching at Loyola University, marriage-preparation courses, and serving as chair of the archdiocese’s personnel board.
May was consecrated bishop in 1967 and served as an auxiliary until 1969 when he was appointed bishop of Mobile, Alabama where he stayed for ten years. He was then named to succeed a retiring archbishop in St. Louis, his installation taking place on 3/25/1980.
He was elected vice president of the NCCB in 1983 and chosen president on 11/11/1986. A solid-looking, handsome man, Archbishop May is described by associates as considerate, with a droll sense of humor but not strongly assertive. For relaxation, he enjoys a game of golf.
May died March 24, 1994 in St. Louis, MO, age 77.
Link to Wikipedia biography