William H. Reifsnyder III ’48

Bill died April 15, 2024, in Wyomissing, Pa., at age 97.

Born Oct. 12, 1926, on his grandparents’ farm in Bechtelsville, Pa., he graduated from Boyertown High School. On the recommendation of Thomas Leidy ’34, Bill attended Princeton, where he served in the V-12 officer training program, took meals at Dial Lodge, played tennis, and was a member of the Glee Club. Accelerating his studies, he graduated in June 1947, with a pre-med A.B. in English.

Bill earned a medical degree in 1951 from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. During his medical internship at Reading Hospital, he met his wife, Peggy Ann. The two were married in 1953 and remained so for 69 years, until her death in 2022.

Bill’s long career practicing medicine was based in Berks County. He practiced at Berks Internal Medicine (which he helped establish) from 1958 to 1996, and served as president, internal medicine section chief, and electrocardiographer at Reading Hospital over the years. From 1987 until his retirement in 2006, he was medical director of the Highlands at Wyomissing, a continuing-care retirement community where he lived when he died.

Bill wrote in our 50th-reunion yearbook: “The Princeton experience helped me to speak and communicate effectively, which has helped me immensely as an internist. Also, I learned to write effectively. Majoring in English as a pre-med was a smart idea. Too many doctors have the science but not the humanities.”

Bill is survived by daughters Joan L. Lundin and Anne M. Dean; six grandchildren; and many great-grandchildren. His son, Bruce; and daughter Diane, who died in infancy, predeceased him.