GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Former Green Bay Catholic Bishop Robert J. Banks has died at the age of 97. The Diocese of Green Bay confirmed to Local 5 on Sunday morning.
“With unwavering faith in the Resurrection, Bishop David L Ricken shares that the Most Reverend Bishop Robert J. Banks, Bishop Emeritus of Green Bay, died peacefully this morning, January 25, 2026, at 7:51 a.m. He was residing at St. Paul Elder in Kaukauna at the time of his death,” the Diocese said in a statement.Bishop Banks was 97 years old and was a priest for 73 years and a Bishop for 40. Banks was among the country’s oldest Bishops at the time of his death.
Before becoming the Bishop of Green Bay from 1990 through 2003, Bishop Banks served the Archdiocese of Boston. He was ordained to the priesthood at Rome’s Lateran Basilica on December 20, 1952, and ordained a bishop on September 19, 1985, at Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston, MA…