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Obituary: Walter R. Benson

Posted on December 18, 2008 by Staff

Walter R. Benson, Professor Emeritus of Pathology at the UNC School of Medicine, died on Dec. 10, 2008 at Britthaven Nursing Home after an extended illness.

Dr. Benson was a native of Tamaqua, Penn., son of the late John and Mary Bengston. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University in 1941 and his medical degree from Duke in 1944. From 1945 to 1947, he served as assistant regimental surgeon for the 350th Infantry Regiment in northern Italy. In 1948, during his residency at the VA Hospital in Ft. Howard, Md., he developed advanced pulmonary tuberculosis and spent a year at the Trudeau Sanatorium facility in Saranac Lake, N.Y. It was there that he met his first wife, the late Ruth Cogan Benson.

Dr. Benson served as a resident and Associate in Pathology at Duke University from 1951-1955 and was an Assistant Professor of Pathology at the University of Louisville and Chief of Laboratory at the VA hospital in Louisville, Ky. from 1955 to 1956. In 1956, he accepted a position at the UNC Medical School where he served as a faculty member in the Pathology Department until his retirement in 1984.

Dr. Benson was a member of numerous medical societies and associations, including the International Academy of Pathology, the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists, and the American Society for Experimental Pathology. He was a member of the North Carolina Medical Society and served as president of the North Carolina Society of Pathologists. Dr. Benson authored and contributed to numerous professional journals but his real love was in teaching and training surgical pathology residents. In 2002 he was honored by his former residents with the establishment of the annual Walter R. Benson Lecture by the UNC Department of Pathology.

Dr. Benson was preceded in death by his youngest son, Carl Benson, his stepson, Fred Caldwell, his brother, Dr. Charles Benson of Cherokee, Okla. and his sister, Mrs. Hazel Jenkins of Allentown, Penn. He is survived by his loving wife, Virginia Burrier Benson; and by his children and stepchildren and their families: John and JoNell Benson of Cary, N.C.; Eric Benson of Dallas, Texas; Christina Benson of Alexandria Va.; Derek and Susan Caldwell of Raleigh, N.C.; Kate Heffner of Portland Ore.; EJ and Anne Caldwell Koenecki of Gurnee, Ill.; and grandson and granddaughter, James and Julia Benson of Cary N.C..

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to a favorite charity or to the Walter R. Benson Lecture, c/o the Medical Foundation, 880 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Chapel Hill, N.C., 27514
Funeral arrangements are private. The family thanks the Britthaven staff for their loving care and support.

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