William Taylor Brandfass ’52

William Taylor Brandfass ’52, M.D., passed away on February 15 at home in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Bill, also know as “Whitey,” was born on July 25, 1927, in Wheeling, West Virginia, and graduated from Linsly Military Institute in Wheeling. After a year at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, he transferred to Dartmouth (which had accepted him before he enrolled at the academy). Although he entered with the class of 1951, Bill received his bachelor’s in 1952 because of a military service interruption in the U.S. Army. He was a premed major and a member of Phi Kappa Psi and Dragon. In 1955 he was awarded a medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Bill was an orthopedic surgeon in the Philadelphia area for more than 35 years and was a founding partner of Premier Orthopedics. He was an avid sports fan throughout his life and enjoyed his role as a team physician to the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team and the Philadelphia Wings lacrosse team. He was an active member of the Presbyterian Church before converting to Catholicism in 2010. Bill devoted much of his retirement years to charity work with the Philadelphia Literacy Program, Habitat for Humanity, the Bethesda-Bainbridge Project, Interfaith Hospital Network and the Christian Eastside Ministry Tutoring Programs. His wife, Jane, whom he married in 1960, children Barbara, Caroline and William Jr. and four grandchildren survive him.