Benjamin Eby Longenecker

Benjamin Eby Longenecker, Jr., M. D., died in the morning of February 25, 2011 at the Highlands of Wyomissing after a long illness.

Born in Middletown in 1921, the son of the late Benjamin Eby Longenecker and Annie Margaret (Keiper) Longenecker, he graduated from Middletown High School in 1939 and from Phillips Academy, Andover in 1941. He earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from Yale University in 1944 and a Doctor of Medicine from Jefferson Medical School in 1949. Following an internship and residency at the Reading Hospital, he practiced general medicine briefly before he was called into the United States Army with the rank of first lieutenant. He served eighteen months in Korea, and then at New Cumberland. In 1955 he moved to South Temple to set up a family practice. He also served as a company physician for Western Electric/ AT&T. He retired from medicine in 1987.

Dr. Longenecker was an active member of Epiphany Lutheran Church, Temple, where he sang in the choir in his later years and served on church council and various other church committees. He was a member of the Berks County Medical Society and the Pennsylvania Medical Society and a certified member of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

He is survived by Theodora (Uelzmann) Longenecker, his wife of 62 years, sons David Longenecker, Boulder, Colorado and Kevin Longenecker, Muhlenberg Township, husband of Karen Feryo Longenecker, and daughter Kristen, Wyomissing, wife of Peter N. Zacharias, and grandchildren Peter K. Zacharias, David Zacharias, husband of Ruth (Cavanaugh) Zacharias, Caitlin Zacharias, Lauren Longenecker, Kathryn Longenecker, and Elise Longenecker. A sister, Margaret (Longenecker) Kern, Middletown, PA predeceased him.

Memorial services will be held in the auditorium at The Highlands at Wyomissing at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 5. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Epiphany Lutheran Church, 631 North Temple Boulevard, Temple, PA 19560-1735, or to the Alzheimer's Association National Office, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl. 17, Chicago, IL 60601. Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home, Inc., West Reading is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be recorded at www.kuhnfuneralhome.com.