DELAWARE, Md. — Redemptorist Father Joseph Hurley, 81, a native of Fall River and formerly provincial superior of the Baltimore Province, died October 30, 2009 in Our Lady of Lourdes Rectory in Seaford, of a heart attack.

The son of the late Joseph L. Hurley, a former lieutenant governor of Massachusetts and later a justice of the Superior Court, and the late Celeste (Tracy) Hurley, he graduated from Msgr. Coyle High School and attended Harvard for a year before applying to the Redemptorists.

Following studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in North East, Penn., and Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary in Esopus, N.Y., he was ordained to the priesthood on June 20, 1954. After graduate studies at The Catholic University in Washington and at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkley, Calif., he served as a seminary rector and in parish ministry. He served as provincial vicar and as provincial from 1975 to 1984 when he ministered in the retreat house and as a pastor in Enfield, Conn.

He served as a novice master for three years until his final assignment in July 2005, as associate pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.

He leaves brothers John and William; and four nieces.

His funeral Mass was celebrated Thursday at Mount St. Alphonsus in Esopus, N.Y., followed by burial in the Redemptorist Cemetery there.