Richard E. Buenger ’44

A lifelong resident of Winnetka, Ill., Dick died Dec. 9, 2010.

Dick came to us from New Trier High School, where he was a star swimmer. At Princeton his roommates were Jay Bowman, Euie Holland, Ed Jones, Chuck Matthews, Jack Wagenseller, and Pete Williams. Dick joined Charter Club.

He left Princeton in 1943 to attend medical school at Northwestern and afterward did an Army tour of duty as a dispensary surgeon, separating as a captain.

Dick had a preeminent career in radiology in Chicago; served as president of local, state, and North American radiology organizations; and was a professor and chairman of diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago for 20 years.

He served as president of a local school and warden of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church. Dick also was a collector of limericks, which he donated to Firestone Library.

Dick, whose last name was pronounced “Binger,” left the following epitaph: “Here lie the bones of dear Buenger, No Sculptor, No Painter, No Singer, but this epitaph should give you a laugh; at limericks, he was a humdinger.”

Preceded in death by his wife of 58 years, Mary, and his brother Theodore ’41, he is survived by his son, Robert; daughter Susan Toth; grandchildren Rob Buenger and Jerry Toth; and great-granddaughter Caroline.