FULTON, NY – Rev. Moritz Fuchs, 92, of Fulton, passed away on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse.
Born in Florida of Swiss parents, Moritz and Anna Sommerhalder Fuchs in 1925, he grew up and attended schools in Fulton.
After graduating from Fulton High School in 1942, he attended Purdue University for mechanical engineering studies that were interrupted by World War II.
Father Fuchs was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943 and after basic training left for the European Theater of Operations, assigned as a replacement in the First Infantry Division.
Among the 30,000 battle casualties in the Huertgen Forest, he spent three months recovering in an army hospital in England.
Returning to the front in February 1945, he engaged in battle again in the Harz Mountains of central Germany.
His unit served in Czechoslovakia at the end of the war.
When the 26th Infantry Regiment was assigned to police German SS prisoners clearing rubble from streets in Nuremburg, he was appointed by Battalion Commander John T. Corley to be the personal bodyguard for U. S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trial of high ranking Nazi leaders, that lasted from 1945-1946.
That special assignment and the experiences of war prompted him to change vocations, so in the fall of 1946 he found himself studying for the priesthood in the Diocese of Syracuse.
Ordained in 1955, he celebrated his 63rd anniversary of Ordination into the Priesthood this past May.
Father Fuchs served as assistant in six parishes until he became pastor.
He served as an associate pastor for Roman Catholic Churches at IHM in Liverpool, St. Mary’s in Clinton, Our Lady of the Rosary in New Hartford, St. Paul’s in Oswego, St. Catherine’s in Binghamton, and Most Holy Rosary in Syracuse.
Father Fuchs then served as pastor at St. Joseph’s in Oriskany Falls, St. Agatha in Canastota and Our Lady of the Rosary in Hannibal until retiring in 2000.
He remained active offering daily Mass at Holy Trinity Church in Fulton and enjoyed helping area parishes including St. Rose of Lima Church in North Syracuse.
Father Fuchs was a lifetime member of the Knights of Columbus, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, and had served as chaplain to the Fulton Veterans’ Council, Fulton Hibernians and was the on-call chaplain at the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown, NY.
He had also served many years on the Catholic Charities of Oswego County board of directors in Fulton.
Father Fuchs is survived by his brother, Joseph (Marjie) Fuchs of Washington state; nephews, Micky of Washington, D.C. and Hannes of Detriot, Mich.; a cousin, Bertha Palamar of Oswego; and many cherished cousins in Switzerland.
He was predeceased by his sisters, Sister Rita Anne and Sister Gertrude, Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, NY; cousins, Karl Fuchs, twin cousins, Christine Ostrowski and Sister Joanne Fuchs, Dorothy Fuchs and Rosemarie Meiers.
A Vigil Service for Priests, which is open for the public, will be held 7 p.m. on Friday, June 29, at St. Rose of Lima Church, 407 S. Main St., North Syracuse, with a visitation hour from 6 to 7 p.m.
Calling hours for those wishing to pay their respects will also be held from 8:30 to 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 30, at Holy Trinity Church, corner of Rochester and South Third streets in Fulton, with a Mass of Christian Burial celebrated at 10:30 a.m.
Burial and military honors are at St. Mary’s Cemetery on South Seventh Street in Fulton immediately following.
Memorial gifts are encouraged to be made to Holy Trinity Church or to the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, 175 Route 340, Sparkill, NY 10976.
Foster Funeral Home, Fulton has care of the arrangements.
Foster Funeral Home, Inc.
www.fosterfuneralhome.com
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A very kind and compassionate man/ He will be missed by all who knew him . My prayers go out to his family.
Father Fuchs was a very kind and compassionate man. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
A kind and wonderful man. I’ll never forget how he travelled out of his way while visiting family in Switzerland to come see me perform with a wind ensemble I toured with during the summer of 1982. He will be missed.
Besides being a spiritual man he was also a Chaplin for many religious organizations like the Knights of Columbus. He was a 4th degree Knight and was always available for our causes. I really got to know him in his later years and what he had accomplished in his life can not be captured in any eulogy.
We had him over for dinner on many occasions and we were always amazed at the stories he would tell us or the pictures he had from trips to Switzerland and his time in the Army.
He cannot be replaced and will be greatly missed.
Tom and Chris Jones