Background
John Fitzsimmons was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, in 1939.
John Fitzsimmons was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, in 1939.
He was ordained priest of the Diocese of Paisley in Rome in 1963. Involved in broadcasting for more than 40 years, he had also served as the rector of the Pontifical Scots College in Rome. After a long illness, John Fitzsimmons died in his sixty ninth year on 17 May 2008, in Gourock.
Maggie Cunningham, the director of programmes for British Broadcasting Corporation Scotland, said of Fitzsimmons, "He was a big man with a big personality, erudite and compassionate, and anybody who met or worked with Father John would benefit from his life-enhancing qualities.".