In Memory of Rev. G. David Sears

Obituary

The Rev. G. David Sears, 90, of Utica, passed away on Saturday, November 8, 2025, at the MVHS Rehabilitation & Nursing Center. Until his recent admission, he proudly maintained his home and lived independently.

Rev. Sears was born in Utica, New York on June 23, 1935, the eldest of five children of George Sears and Regina DeMott Sears and a 9th great-grandson of Richard Sears of Yarmouth, Pilgrim, whose initial Sears history was recorded in a work by the celebrated historian, Samuel P. May, in 1890. Rev. Sears was educated in Utica public schools, graduating with honors from John F. Hughes Elementary School and Utica Free Academy. He always said mathematics was his first love. Throughout his academic career, on every level, he always selected "the toughest subjects and the toughest teachers."

He entered the Holy Name Province of the Order of Friars Minor (OFM), the Observantine Franciscans. Headquartered in New York City, the Provincial houses of study were St. Joseph's College, Callicoon, New York; St. Raphael's Monastery, Lafayette, New Jersey; St. Francis College, Rye Beach, New Hampshire; and Holy Name College, Washington, D.C.

Rev. Sears earned a BA in Philosophy, with a major in History while focusing on ancient (Latin, Greek, Hebrew) and modern languages, especially German. At St. Francis College, he studied under Reginald Redlon, OFM, a logician from the Louvain who would later be the homilist at Rev. Sears's "first Mass" at Our Lady of Lourdes in Utica, New York. Rev. Sears completed his first year of theology at Holy Name College in Washington, D.C., where he studied under Stephen J. Hartdegen, OFM, a biblical scholar who would later be among those who spearheaded the translation of the New American Bible. Rev. Sears then left the Friars, transferred to the Diocese of Syracuse, and completed his final three years of theology at St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, New York before being ordained a catholic priest on May 18,1963.

In 1968, while serving those Native Americans of the Catholic faith residing on the Onondaga Reservation, Rev. Sears was accepted by the Syracuse University Graduate School of Religious Studies, receiving his Master’s degree in Religious Studies in 1970.

In 1971, Rev. Sears was hired by the Archdiocese of New York to chair the Religion Department in one of its college preparatory high schools on Staten Island, and to teach mathematics. Rev. Sears completely revamped the curriculum. Courses for the seniors were eventually accepted by St. John's and Fordham Universities for college credit for those who wished to attend those schools.

While teaching, Rev. Sears also attended Columbia University. He eventually left teaching to study full time, earning a second Master’s degree in 1976 in clinical social work. He spent a year of field training in the psychiatric unit of the US Public Health Service Hospital on Staten Island, a military hospital at the time with one of the few leper units in the country. During his second year of field training, he was assigned to the Meyer-Manhattan State Psychiatric Hospital on Wards Island, and to Genesis House on W. 85th Street, a satellite of the hospital.

Upon completion of his studies Rev. Sears began working with the Manhattan Legal Aid Society (LAS) as an in-house consultant to provide testimony before the NYS Board of Parole on behalf of clients who were parole violators because of mental health/addiction problems while on parole. Hired not as a priest but as a consultant, his work took him to most of the downstate NYS and NYC psychiatric hospitals and prisons, wherever the agency had a client. He worked for the Legal Aid Society from 1976 to 1988.

While working at the legal agency, he began training in psychoanalysis at the then NY Center for Psychoanalytic Training in Manhattan. He trained for several years and while doing so, maintained a private practice on Staten Island, until shortly after 9/11 when he left NYC to care for his mother in Utica and to administer a parish in the Syracuse Diocese. He was offered St. Thomas in New Hartford and served as the Administrator there from October 2002 until July 1, 2023, when he retired and the parish became an oratory.

Rev. Sears lived in the family home of 83 years until a few days prior to his passing but also enjoyed spending time at the family camp on Upper Saranac Lake and the farm in Pompey.  He is survived by his brothers Richard L. (Dick) Sears (and Carol) of Oriskany, Daniel (and Eileen) Sears of Winterhaven, FL, a sister Diana (and Steven) Babcock of Syracuse and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.  He was predeceased by his father, George Sears, in 1957, his mother, Regina Sears, in 2006 and brother Dennis A. Sears, Sr., in 2002.

Services will be held privately and at the convenience of the family. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery in Utica.  Arrangements are with Friedel, Williams & Edmunds Funeral and Cremation Services, 13 Oxford Rd., New Hartford.

For online expressions of sympathy go to fwefh.com.