WORCESTER (AP) — The longest-serving president in the history of the College of the Holy Cross was laid to rest Monday.

The funeral Mass for the Rev. John Brooks occurred Monday morning at St. Joseph Memorial Chapel on campus. Burial followed in the Jesuit cemetery at the school.

Brooks served as president of the Roman Catholic college from 1970 to 1994. Under his guidance and leadership, the school racially integrated and admitted its first women.

One of the school’s first black students was current Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Others included Pulitzer Prize winner Edward P. Jones and Stanley Grayson, the former New York City deputy mayor.

The Telegram & Gazette reports that Brooks had been undergoing treatment for lymphoma. He died July 2 at the age of 88.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.