Kurt Herman Buerger ’60

Kurt Herman Buerger ’60, Ph.D., died on January 16 after several longstanding illnesses. He retired from San Angelo State College in 2007. His retirement years were compromised first by cancer and then by Alzheimer’s disease. His wife, Gisela, says she was thankful that she found a place in San Angelo that was able to provide him with the personal care and respect that preserved his human dignity even as the disease ravaged him. Kurt grew up in Lake Zurich, Illinois, the son of Kurt and Paula Buerger. He completed his schooling there, graduating from ElaVernon High School prior to matriculating to Dartmouth, where he majored in physics while nurturing his lifelong interest in foreign languages. While at Dartmouth he was involved in Germania, the Russian Club and the DOC. Following Dartmouth Kurt went on to earn his Ph.D. in physics, subsequently teaching physics and accounting at the collegiate level. Kurt’s wife reports they were able to indulge their mutual passion for world travel while Kurt was still active in his career, thereby enriching his interest in foreign cultures and social structures while sharpening his fluency in several foreign languages. It was on the return of one their extended foreign travels that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Kurt is survived by Gisela, children Christa, Martin and Paul, grandsons Nicholas and Andreas, sister Meta and brother Robert.