Dick Perl was born March 12, 1948, in St. Louis, the son of Oscar and Gloria Perl. After graduating from St. Louis University High School, he entered the Society of Jesus on Sept. 1, 1966. He pronounced first vows on March 14, 1970, and was ordained a priest on June 17, 1978, at St. Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis. He professed final vows on Jan. 23, 1991, in El Progreso, Honduras.

His long-standing love of the people of Central America began with his first assignment following studies at St. Stanislaus Seminary and Fusz Memorial in St. Louis, which was to teach at St. John’s College in Belize City, Belize. He returned to Belize City following his ordination and served as associate pastor at St. Martin de Porres Parish until 1981, then at St. Ignatius Parish for another three years.

In 1985, he was missioned to do pastoral work in Honduras, first in Olanchito, then in Yoro. He remained in Honduras until 1995, when he returned to Belize City to serve as regional superior until 2001. Following a sabbatical, Father Perl was missioned to St. Peter Claver Parish in Punta Gorda, Belize, where he served as pastor until 2010.

Following another sabbatical, Father Perl ministered to the Latino immigrant community at St. Anthony Parish in Kansas City, Missouri, until 2016. At that time he began his long battle with Parkinson’s disease, returning to his native St. Louis to care for his health and to take up a ministry of service and prayer at Jesuit Hall. He moved to St. Ignatius Hall with the rest of the Jesuit Hall community in 2023.

Father Perl’s fearless spirit of adventure could be traced to his earliest days as a Jesuit novice, when his novice director sent him on a 10-week pilgrimage to Mexico with nothing but a small backpack, $150 and a thumb for hitchhiking — much to the consternation of his mother. That adventure fueled his spirit for life: his love for every land and place in God’s amazing world; his openness to every person’s story, no matter how unexpected; his trust that God would take care of him in every circumstance. That trust would be tested during his long journey through Parkinson’s, but he faced it with the same relentless hope and laughing spirit that he exuded during his long missionary journeys in Belize and Honduras.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Saint Louis University and a master’s of divinity at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also received ministry training in Denver.

In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his brothers, Terry and James Perl, and brother-in-law, Terry Rose. He is survived by his sister, Carolyn Rose; nieces Stephanie (Adam), Leslie (Brent), Kelly (Mike) and Alice (Michael) and nephew, Emmett (Cynthia); nine great-nieces and great-nephews: Owen, Alex, Nora, Charlotte, Abby, Clara, Brady, Lennox and Perrin; an uncle, Allan Suellentrop; and many cousins.