Jesuit Brother James E. Small, 104, died March 19 in Clarkston, Michigan.

Born in Chicago, Brother Small was a postulant in the Jesuit novitiate in Milford, Ohio, for a few months when he was 18, but he went on to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II and worked as a machinist and Chicago police officer before entering the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus in 1952. He made his final vows in 1963.

Brother Small served as the infirmarian at the Milford novitiate (1955-1958) and West Baden College, Indiana (1958-1963).

He returned to the novitiate a carpenter (1963-1969) before being missioned to Loyola Academy in Wilmette, where he spent over four decades ministering as a carpenter and an artist-in-residence. In 2013, he moved to Colombiere Center in Clarkston.

Throughout his life, Brother Small would copy famous paintings and sell them to support Loyola Academy. Later in life, he began painting original artwork that currently hangs on the walls of Colombiere Center.

According to the Loyola Academy website, his paintings raised over a million dollars for tuition assistance at the school, where he also taught Saturday art classes to students of all ages.