Monsignor William Kerr, a former president of La Roche College whose pursuit of peace touched presidents and prisoners, died Wednesday after suffering a stroke May 3 during Mass in a Florida cathedral. He was 68.

The St. Louis native attended seminary at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., along with the capital's current Archbishop Donald Wuerl.

"He made friends easily, and he kept friends long after he would leave the area where he had worked with them," said Archbishop Wuerl, who was bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006.

"He had what I would call a quiet charm. He was very effective in accomplishing his mission, whatever it might be. But it was always in a quiet, dignified and engaging manner."

Ordained in 1966 for St. Louis, he later transferred to Florida and joined the new Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, serving as its first vocations director and rector of a co-cathedral. His many degrees included a doctorate in diplomatic history from Florida State University, where he was campus minister from 1971 to 1984.

When serial killer Ted Bundy murdered two women and severely injured two others in a sorority house in 1978, Monsignor Kerr was called to give last rites. Mr. Bundy sought counseling from Monsignor Kerr, who last visited him two days before his 1989 execution.

By then, Monsignor Kerr had spent five years as vice president for university relations at Catholic University. In 1992 he became president of La Roche.

"Under his leadership, La Roche College was transformed from a regional coeducational, liberal arts college into a global community of learners with a burgeoning international presence," said Sister Candace Introcaso, the current president.

He "made a real contribution to promoting peace and understanding and to improving the lives of hundreds of young people around the world."

During his tenure the college added faculty, established six new majors and embarked on a building program that included student housing, "smart classrooms" and the 1,200-seat Kerr Fitness and Sports Center. But his signature creation was the Pacem In Terris Institute to bring students from war-torn nations to study at La Roche and send them back home to work for peace. The program, whose name is Latin for "peace on earth," has served more than 450 students from 21 nations in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East.

"I think it's important for colleges and universities to reach out and ... to make some contribution to making the communities and regions of the world in which we live better places," Monsignor Kerr said in 2001.

In 2004, then-Bishop Wuerl, a board member of the debt-ridden Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, recruited Monsignor Kerr as its executive director. Monsignor Kerr helped transform its primary mission from a museum about one pope to a think tank focused on interreligious understanding.

"It was a natural fit and allowed him to build on what he had accomplished at La Roche," Archbishop Wuerl said. "He had many contacts in Africa because of the Pacem In Terris program. He saw it as part of his mission to connect the efforts of the cultural center with the experience of the church around the world."

When Pope John Paul II died, thousands of Washingtonians, from street people to diplomats, paid their respects at the center. Monsignor Kerr became a presence on major television networks, talking about the pope's legacy.

At the center, "he would be surrounded by kids, talking about John Paul down in our cafe or up the rotunda. He was a magnet to young people," said Hugh Dempsey, deputy director.

He instigated high-level programs of dialogue with Muslims and Jews, and created a "Pope John Paul II Peace Prize." It was first awarded to King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan for efforts to promote non-violence.

In 2006 he returned to Florida as executive director of the Claude Pepper Center for Intercultural Dialogue at Florida State. There he continued to build on the international contacts he made through Pacem In Terris. Last month he became president of John Paul II High School in Tallahassee, while remaining at Florida State.

He was celebrating Mass at the co-cathedral of St. Thomas More when he suffered a massive stroke. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda dispatched his ambassador to Monsignor Kerr's hospital room and Vice President Joe Biden, who he had known since the 1980s, called several times hoping to speak to him, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. The priest's friends smuggled his 120-pound German shepherd up a back stairway for a final farewell.

Mr. Dempsey noted that the stroke had felled him just after he finished his homily.

"For a man who gave his life to the church delivering the word, that's a pretty sweet way to go," he said.

Visitation and evening prayer will be 6 to 10 p.m. Monday in St. Thomas More Co-cathedral, Tallahassee, where the funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

A local public memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. May 29 in the Kerr Fitness and Sports Center on the La Roche campus in McCandless.