NEW YORK – Cardinal Edward Egan, the retired archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York and a leading figure in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church, died Thursday, the archdiocese said. He was 82.
Egan was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest at NYU Langone Medical Center at 2:20 p.m., the archdiocese said.
Egan had lunch with his secretary, the Rev. Douglas Crawford, in his residence at the Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, “and at the end of the lunch he simply let out a little groan and he slumped over and died,” said Egan’s successor, Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
Crawford gave Egan the sacrament of the sick in case there was a chance of recovery, and then he was rushed to the hospital, Dolan said.
“He loved this city. He obviously loved the Catholic family of New York with a particularly paternal care,” he said. “He loved its priests, its sisters, and parishes and especially the people.”