Father Alejandro Roque, OMI, 66, died on July 10, 2019, at the Tufts Medical Center, Boston. He was a son of the late Carlos and Rosa (Gonzalez) Roque. He was predeceased by his brother, Rogelio Carlos Roque Sr.

Father Roque was born in Havana, Cuba, where he attended a Catholic grade school before coming to the United States at age 7 as part of Operation Peter Pan. He graduated from Miami High School and Miami Dade Jr. College in Florida. From 1981-1982, he studied at Creighton University, Omaha, Neb. On Sept. 1, 1982, he entered the Missionary Oblate Novitiate in Godfrey, Ill. Here he professed his first vows as a Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate on Aug. 1, 1983.

Father Roque received a bachelor's degree in Philosophy and a master's degree in Divinity from the Oblate College in Washington, D.C. On Sept. 7, 1986, he professed his perpetual vows. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 11, 1988, in Opa Locka, Fla.

Father Roque spent many years in parish ministry in Florida, and more recently Holy Angels, Holy Cross and Our Lady of Hope parishes in Buffalo. He was vocation director of the Southeast/Southwest areas of the U.S. Province of the Missionary Oblates from 2002-2005. He served as chair for the Youth Ministry Advisory Committee from 2002 to 2008. He served on the Presbyteral Council of the Archdiocese of Miami for a three-year term. In July of 2012, the U.S. Province of the Missionary Oblates appointed him councilor at large for a two-year term.

In September 2014, Father Roque was named director of the Bishop Fallon Pre-Novitiate in Buffalo, and was a member of the Buffalo Mission Center and the Buffalo District Community. He served as superior of the Buffalo Community from 2014 to 2017 and was director of the Buffalo Mission Center.

Due to failing health, he recently spent several weeks at the Brothers of Mercy Skilled Nursing and Rehab Center in Clarence, and had just transferred to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence in Tewksbury, Mass., for further care.
He is survived by a sister, Ana Roque.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated Saturday, July 13 in Tewksbury. Interment will take place in the Oblate Cemetery at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence also in Tewksbury.