Jim Brennan, innovative public relations director and the original St. Joseph’s University Hawk, has died at 91

Jim Brennan, 91, of Hampden, Mass., a retired innovative national director of community and public relations for the Hillhaven Corp., Marine veteran, author, and the original St. Joseph’s University Hawk, died Friday, June 21, of age-associated decline at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass.

An energetic lifelong dreamer and prolific ideas man, Mr. Brennan was an enthusiastic sophomore at St. Joseph’s in 1955 when he raised $120 in donations and bought a custom-made hawk costume so he could flap around at basketball games as the school’s live mascot. He went on to wear the feathery wings and bulky hawk head for three years, and establish a tradition that has featured more than 60 succeeding Hawks over 68 years.

The St. Joe’s Hawk, with its red-and-black wings and open yellow beak, has become one of the most recognizable mascots in college basketball, and Mr. Brennan started the custom of constantly flapping its wings during games. “I didn’t want to be just a fan watching the game,” he told sjuhawks.com in 2005. “So I started flapping.”

All those selected by school officials to wear the Hawk costume automatically join what they call the Featherhood, and they all seem to be natural entertainers. “Put the costume on, and it will automatically come to you,” Mr. Brennan said in a recent video about his big idea.

He wrote about the Hawk in his 2014 book, HawkTales, and won the Michael J. Conway Memorial Award for extraordinary service from the men’s basketball team in 2015. Jill Bodensteiner, vice president and director of athletics at St. Joseph’s, called him a “true visionary when it comes to institutional spirit and branding” in a tribute.

On the 50th anniversary of the Hawk in 2005, he told sjuhawks.com: “Of all the things I’ve ever done and all the awards I’ve ever won, my greatest satisfaction is the concept of the Hawk and knowing I started the tradition.”

After St. Joseph’s, Mr. Brennan worked for a decade as an administrator at the Mary Lyon Nursing Home in Hampden, and then became director of community and public relations for Tacoma, Wash.-based Hillhaven and its 300-plus nursing homes in 33 states. For 30 years, from 1970 to 2001, he crisscrossed the country, visiting residents, staff, and family members at nursing homes in Washington, California, Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, and elsewhere.

And he tried out more big ideas everywhere he went. “He advocated for ensuring dignity and joy for nursing home residents,” his family said in a tribute “He was a creative visionary.”

In 1980, he introduced the Ho Ho Hotline and invited nursing home residents to pose as Santa and Mrs. Claus and answer telephone calls from children. He promoted the Rock and Roll Jamboree during which residents earned pledges for charity by lightheartedly rocking and rolling in their rockers and wheelchairs.

He arranged for married residents to live in the same room and championed Adopt-A-Resident programs that connected staff and residents on a more personal level. He encouraged bowling tournaments in the hallways and ponies as comfort animals.

“Ours is a youth-oriented society where there is not much of a place for the elderly,” he told the Boca Raton News in 1985. “The challenge is ours. We have to educate people.”

He lectured to groups often about health-care issues and lobbied loudly for increased government funding for nursing home care. Actors Cesar Romero and Valerie Bertinelli, and other celebrities, endorsed his programs, and he appeared as the mystery contestant on the TV game show To Tell the Truth.

“He was known for bringing creativity and joy to nursing home residents,” his family said, “and transforming the public perception of nursing homes.”

James Joseph Brennan was born March 21, 1933, in Sayre, Pa. He joined the Marines during the Korean War after high school and then served as president of his St. Joe’s Class of 1958 for all four years.

He lived in Trenton and Levittown after college before moving to Hampden. He married Barbara James, and they had daughters Linda, Lisa, Joann, Debby, and Marianne. He and his wife divorced, and she and his daughter Lisa died earlier.

Mr. Brennan loved to engage, and he did magic tricks, told jokes and riddles, and entertained with puppets. “He just gave love to everybody,” said his daughter Debby. “He was a genius.”

In addition to his daughters, Mr. Brennan is survived by 11 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren, a brother, and other relatives. A sister died earlier.

Services were held July 19 in Massachusetts, and the current Hawk attended and flapped its wings the entire time.

Donations in his name may be made to the Jim Brennan Original Hawk Memorial, St. Joseph’s University Office of Advancement, 5600 City Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19131.