Dennis Buetow '54, M.A. '57, Ph.D. '59

Dennis Buetow '54, M.A. '57, Ph.D. '59, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, passed away Nov. 18, 2020, at the age of 88.

Buetow continued to work until the end of his life, his later research focusing on finding a novel vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Having identified the genetic material of the antibodies to RSV and invented a process for making a plant-derived vaccine for immunization against it, he founded a company in 2017 to bring the vaccine to market.

All of Buetow's degrees were in zoology with special focus on general and cellular physiology. After completing his graduate education, he moved to Maryland, where he served as a biologist at the National Institutes of Health and a visiting biochemist at the Baltimore City Hospitals from 1959 to 1965. He married M. Kathleen (Kitty) Buetow on Oct. 29, 1960.

In 1965, he moved to the University of Illinois, where he was the head of the physiology department from 1983 to 1988 and interim head from 1991 to 1992. He wrote over 100 book chapters and journal articles on his research and presented numerous seminars and addresses around the world. He also was active in the scientific community by reviewing manuscripts for numerous journals, participating on grant review committees, and serving as editor of the “Cell Biology: A Series of Monographs” book series. He was a member of the American Physiology Society, the Gerontological Society, and the American Heart Association.

In addition to his wife, Kitty, Buetow is survived by three children, daughters Katherine (Danial) Branson of St. Joseph and Ellen Buetow of Urbana and son Michael (Catherine) Buetow of Amesbury, Mass. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Kaylyn (Justin) Koehler, Carly Buetow, Grace Buetow, Thomas Buetow and Calvin Buetow; great-grandchildren, Leighton Koehler and Jaxson Koehler; and brother, Clarence (Charlotte, deceased) Buetow of Cambria, Calif. He was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Carol; brother, Earl; and son, Thomas.

Read a full obituary here.