VILLANOVA, Pa.—A four-time collegiate All-American who held the BIG EAST meet record in the 1500 meters for 37 years and ran that distance at the 1988 Olympics, Gerry O'Reilly '87 passed away suddenly on June 11. It is with extreme sadness that Villanova mourns the death of O'Reilly, who was described by his close friends and former teammates as a kind and generous family man who excelled at friendship. O'Reilly was part of Villanova's Irish Pipeline of track & field stars and a member of the program's vaunted sub-four-minute mile club.
 
O'Reilly is one of 13 Irish athletes who competed for the Wildcats and in the Olympics during their careers. He qualified in the 1500 meters for the1987 World Championships in Rome and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, as well as for the 1989 World Indoor Championships in Budapest. O'Reilly was a seven-time BIG EAST champion and a 17-time BIG EAST medalist who made an impact for Villanova in all three seasons spanning cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. He is part of the Penn Relays Wall of Fame and the Villanova University Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
 
Funeral Arrangements
 
Thursday, June 18
James F. Terry Funeral Home – Downingtown; 736 E. Lancaster Avenue, Downingtown, PA 19335
Viewing – 5:00-7:00 PM
 
Friday, June 19
Saint Elizabeth Catholic Church – Chester Springs; 110 St Elizabeth Drive, Chester Springs, PA 19425
Visitation – 9:45-10:45am
Mass – 11:00am
 
Gerry O'Reilly was born on July 1, 1964, in Co Meath Ireland. He was nine years old when he joined Dunboyne AC, where he would be a member for more than 50 years. O'Reilly returned to the Dunboyne club less than a year ago where a commemorative wall plaque in his honor was unveiled, recognizing his Olympics moment in 1988 and his other accomplishments. Following his athletic career, O'Reilly worked for Vanguard for 34 years and managed one of the largest mutual funds in the United States and worldwide.
 
O'Reilly grew up with a farming background and related how early his dream of running in the Olympics started when he watched fellow Irishman Eamonn Coghlan compete in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.
 
"I lived out in the country, and I'd go for runs after school by myself," O'Reilly said. "But in my mind, I was running Olympic finals and could visualize all these guys around me. I was always thinking, 'What if I'm lucky enough to make it the Olympics?'
 
"The experience was incredible," O'Reilly would go on to say of the 1988 Olympics. "Just to be in an Olympic village, surrounded by worldclass athletes that you'd only ever seen on TV."
 
O'Reilly was the Irish U20 1500 meters champion in 1983, an accomplishment which opened doors for him to earn an athletic scholarship to attend school in the United States. Villanova is well-known in Ireland for the number of athletes who have excelled there, and O'Reilly described how once his parents found out he received a scholarship offer from Villanova, "I'm going," he said.
 
Former Villanova teammate Sean O'Neill remembers getting off the plane together with O'Reilly when they arrived in the United States in 1983 to attend Villanova. The two met when they were 15 years old running the 800 meters in Ireland and they would finish consecutively in fourth and fifth places in the 1500 meters in their final collegiate race at the 1987 NCAA Championships in Baton Rouge, La.
 
O'Reilly was an All-American indoors in the 3000 meters and outdoors in the 1500 meters during his junior and senior collegiate seasons. He was the NCAA runner-up in the 3K in both 1986 and 1987, as well as finishing fifth in the 1500 meters in each of those years. O'Reilly's lifetime bests included 3:37.,40 in the 1500 meters, 3:54.63 in the mile and 7:46.29 in the 3000 meters. He ran sub-four-minute miles seven times during his collegiate career and still ranks fifth indoors in school history in the 1500 meters, as well as ninth in the Villanova record book in the 3000 meters.
 
As a senior in 1987, O'Reilly won the 1500 meters in 3:40.62 at the outdoor BIG EAST Championships on Villanova's home track. The winning time was a meet record which would stand for 37 years before being broken only recently in 2024 by another Wildcats champion and All-American, Liam Murphy. O'Reilly's BIG EAST titles included gold medals indoors in 1986 (1500m, 3000m, distance medley relay) and 1987 (3000m) as well as outdoors in each of those years (1986 – 5000m; 1987 – 1500m). He also was the individual BIG EAST champion in cross country as a senior in 1986.
 
O'Reilly excelled individually during his collegiate career while being part of dominant Wildcats teams during the mid-1980's. Villanova won six BIG EAST team titles during O'Reilly's career, including a sweep of the indoor and outdoor conference crowns in 1985 and 1986 which followed a cross country title in 1983 and outdoor championship in 1984. The Wildcats came in second in the team race at the 1986 indoor NCAA Championships and tallied three other top 20 national finishes indoors (1987, tie-13^th); outdoors (1986, tie-16^th); and in cross country (1983, 14^th) during O'Reilly's career.
 
Villanova came in second in the distance medley relay at the 1987 Penn Relays and bettered the unofficial world record at the time with a mark of 9:21.02. The race still stands as the third-fastest DMR in Villanova history and was anchored by O'Reilly who split 3:55.3 over the final 1600 meters which remains the fifth-fastest 1600 meters or mile split in school history (O'Reilly also ranks sixth on that list with a split of 3:55.8 at the Penn Relays one year earlier).
 
Despite coming up a mere six-hundredths short of the Championship of America title in 1987 DMR, the Wildcats team of O'Neill, Edwin Modibedi, Bruce Harris and O'Reilly was inducted onto the Penn Relays Wall of Fame in 2007 on the 20-year anniversary of the race. O'Reilly would be selected for the Villanova University Varsity Club Wall of Fame two years later.
 
O'Reilly's additional collegiate honors include winning the NCAA District II cross country title in 1983 and 1986, as well as IC4A titles indoors in 1987 (3000m, DMR) and outdoors in 1986 (1500m, 5000m). He was the Outstanding Performer at the indoor BIG EAST Championships in 1986 when he won the 1500 meters (3:52.21) and 3000 meters (8:14.52) individually in addition to anchoring the champion distance medley relay.
 
After his All-America results as a collegiate senior in 1987, O'Reilly went on to run a PR of 3:37.40 in the 1500 meters in London on July 10, 1987, in his first post-collegiate race. He was part of an Irish 4x1500 meter relay team which ran 14:59.8 in Dublin on August 28, then just six days later placed 11^th in his heat of the 1500 meters in 3:45.77 at the IAAF World Championships in Rome. O'Reilly finished fifth in the mile at the Millrose Games in 1988 and, later that year, posted a time of 3:43.23 in his heat of the 1500 meters at the Olympics in Seoul. O'Reilly and his Villanova teammate Marcus O'Sullivan were both coached by another former Wildcats star, Tom Donnelly, and the pair of Irishmen each competed in the 1500 meters at the 1988 Olympics.
 
O'Reilly ran 7:53.32 at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest in 1989, and later that year tallied a lifetime best of 13:35.31 in the 5000 meters in London. O'Reilly was the runner-up in the 3000 meters at the 1990 Millrose Games.
 
O'Sullivan remembered O'Reilly by relating, "I was so proud of all his accomplishments. But, more important to me, was the way he carried himself in life. He was a good person and a wonderful family man, kind and generous. Above all he was respectful to others from all walks of life. He had a steadfast moral compass that guided him in his life, and in doing so it had an intoxicating influence on others. It was refreshing in helping the soul to rediscover that living a good and heartfelt life could be a lot of fun as well as fulfilling. We all need a person like Gerry O'Reilly in our lives."
 
After his running career ended, O'Reilly became a longtime investment leader and portfolio manager at Vanguard where he managed the Total Stock Market Index, one of the world's largest mutual funds. He was remembered by Vanguard as making "immeasurable contributions to several of Vanguard's flagship index funds serving millions of investors" and for being "a respected mentor to many across our investment teams, sharing his experience, developing talent, and helping to shape generations of Vanguard investment leaders."