BUFFALO, NY - Canisius is home to a grand collection of legacy families. The Lyons lineage, as in Lyons Hall, dates to 1911, with the freshman arrival of Edward J. The Koessler clan, as in the Koessler Athletic Center, dates to 1918, with the freshman arrival of J. Walter. And the family tree perhaps most deeply rooted is the Brady brood — please, not bunch — whose ancestry extends to the freshman arrival of Andrew J. Jr. in 1905.
Andrew J. Sr. was born in Ireland and found his way to Buffalo, where he had six sons. All six attended Canisius, where the Brady name cycles four generations through his second son, John C. Brady Sr. 1912, HON ’49, MD. The succession runs through John C. Brady Jr. ’54, John C. Brady III ’86, and great-granddaughters, Siobhan Brady ’13 and Mikaela Brady ’15.
John C. Sr., known as Jack, captained early Canisius basketball teams. (They weren’t called Griffins yet; that wouldn’t happen until 1933, when the name came courtesy of Jack’s brother, Charles A. Brady ’33, HON ’87.) Jack was stationed in France in World War I and refereed an exhibition starring French heavyweight Georges Carpentier, who’d later face Jack Dempsey in boxing’s first million-dollar gate.
Jack was chief of surgery at Sisters Hospital and toastmaster of many of the college’s Block C athletic dinners; he kept a photo in his home office of the 1930 dinner featuring keynote speaker Knute Rockne, the Notre Dame football coach who would die in a plane crash three months later. Jack and Bob MacKinnon, then the Griffs basketball coach, were the first inductees to the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame in 1963; the college’s centennial history, written by Charles A., notes Jack was then “still trimly fit” in his 73rd year. Jack (basketball) and Charles (tennis) are one of two brother combinations in the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame, with Tom and Joe Niland (both basketball) (see page 14).
Granddaughter Margaret Leila Brady ’95 lives in the grand North Buffalo home where Jack and Leila raised their family; it’s a setting for several scenes in the 2017 movie “Marshall.” Jack Brady died in 1973 — styled “Buffalo’s Grand Old Man of Surgery” in his obituary — but his family name lives on at alma mater, which fondly looks forward to a fifth generation.
BRADY FAMILY TREE
Andrew J. Brady 1909
John C. Brady 1912, HON ’49, MD
Charles A. Brady ’33, HON ‘87
T. Francis Brady ’39
Joseph D. Brady ’35
J. Clifford Brady ’40
Vincent D. Brady Sr. MS ’42
John C. Brady Jr. ’54
Thomas F. Brady ’63, PhD
Kristin M. Brady ’70, PhD
Kathleen M. (Brady) Wiles ’74, PhD
Erik L. Brady ’76
Vincent D. Brady Jr. ’77
Kevin C. Brady ’77, MBA ’92
Mary Brady Webber ’79
Patrick J. (Brady) Wiles ’82
John C. Brady III ’86
Margaret Leila Brady ’95
Benjamin Brady Roberts MS ’04
Siobhan Brady ’13
Mikaela Brady ’15
