US Ambassador’s second passenger in Malibu accident dies Friday morning

The Our Lady of Malibu pastor had been in the hospital, much of the time in an induced coma, after having suffered major injuries in an automobile accident on Aug. 25, which had claimed the life of his assistant, Sister Mary Campbell.

Sheridan, who served as OLM’s pastor from 1965-1991, came to California in the early 1940s to complete his theological studies at St John’s Seminary in Camarillo. He was ordained in 1943.

Kmiec, 58, was driving the 2009 Hyundai on Wednesday when the vehicle drifted onto a dirt shoulder and struck a drainage ditch on Mulholland Highway east of Stokes Canyon Road, the California Highway Patrol said. He suffered major injuries and was transported to a hospital.

Sister Mary Campbell, 74, was pronounced dead at the scene. She was in the back seat, the CHP said. Msgr. John Sheridan, 94, was injured and taken to a nearby hospital. He was in the front seat.

Kmiec also underwent surgery and was in stable condition.

Authorities say the car was driven by the ambassador and crashed into a drainage ditch. The three had attended an anniversary celebration at a Woodland Hills high school and were returning to the church when the crash occurred, The Malibu Times reported. The US ambassador to Malta, a well-known scholar and popular law commentator, is a former professor of Pepperdine University.

mbassador Kmiec also served as dean and St. Thomas More Professor of Law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., additionally serving for nearly two decades on the law faculty at the University of Notre Dame.

The ambassador was nominated by President Obama to serve as the Ambassador to Malta on July 2, 2009.