Born Oct. 10, 1932, in Pass Christian, Miss., Adam was diagnosed with severe asthma as a child and sent to Phoenix. There, he attended Southern Arizona School for Boys and then studied for the priesthood. After his 1963 ordination as an Episcopal minister, he was sent to Las Vegas to oversee construction of St. Matthew's Episcopalian Church on Nellis Boulevard and became its first pastor. Shortly thereafter, he left for Utah to seek support to build a children's home.

In the mid-1960s, Adam approached then-Sun Publisher Hank Greenspun for help in getting St. Jude's off the ground ."Whoever attempts in some fashion to salvage young lives, the effort should be made by all to see that such work should not be in vain," Greenspun wrote in 1966. "Fortunately for Southern Nevada, there is a man who has a dream."
Boulder City sold Adam and his supporters 40 acres for $1 to use as the site for St. Jude's. The dollar for that land purchase was symbolically donated by Adam's great-aunt, then-95-year-old Catholic nun Sister Mary of the Cross, who shared Adam's dream.Early in 1966 Adam returned to Southern Nevada after Boulder City and other cities showed interest in such a home for Southern Nevada.

While preparing to host a fundraising gala to build a Southern Nevada children's shelter in 1966, the Rev. Jack Adam fretted that charging $25 per seat might scare off potential patrons. After all, the only entertainers he had signed up for that mid-November show at the Riviera Hotel were Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Shecky Greene, Jack Benny, Eddie Fisher, Connie Francis, Frank Fontaine and Red Buttons.

After the show to a packed house, the ever frugal Benny half-jokingly chided the man everyone knew as "Father Jack" for not charging $100 a ticket. Nevertheless, the $70,000 raised during that event helped fulfill Adam's dream to build St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City, Nevada. Today, that facility has improved the lives of hundreds of abused, abandoned and neglected children.

In his later years and forced by ill health to move to an even a drier climate than Las Vegas' - this time to Mesa, Ariz. - Adam had a long career as a jeweler and jewelry shop owner. His family said Adam spent the last 40 years of his life making cash contributions anonymously to St. Jude's and to youth causes in Mexico and Nicaragua.

Adam was long known by his nicknam, "Father Jack" even after he left the priesthood and the Episcopal church in the 1970s to protest the church's decision to start ordaining women as priests. He became a devout Catholic.

Jack Capers "Father Jack" Adam passed at the age of 1974 in 2007 but his vision lives on today in the many programs, campuses and services St. Jude's Ranch for Children offers to children in need. Nearly 1,000 children have since passed through the facility's doors. Currently there are about 60 children at St. Jude's Ranch in Boulder City and two other chapters in Texas have since opened and are home to 60 more kids.

"We will forever be thankful to Father Jack for his vision, foresight and courage to build St. Jude's Ranch for Children," St. Jude's Chief Executive Christine Spadafor said. "He gave the children new hope and a second chance at life."