Tuesday, July 18, 2006

OBITUARY
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(Maryland) Rev. Robert C. Baumiller, SJ, 75, died unexpectedly following heart surgery on Thursday, July 13, 2006, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He was a Jesuit for 52 years and a priest for 41 years.

Father Baumiller was born in Baltimore, Md., on April 15, 1931. A graduate of Loyola High School in Towson, Md., (1945-1949) and Loyola College in Maryland (1949-1953), Father Baumiller entered the Society of Jesus at the Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues, Wernersville, Pa., on July 30, 1953 and pronounced his First Vows on July 31, 1955. After pursuing Juniorate (college) studies at Wernersville from 1955 to 1956, he was sent to study philosophy at St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo., from 1956 to 1959.

As a Jesuit Scholastic, Father Baumiller spent his regency in graduate studies at St. Louis University (1959-1961) where he received a Ph.D. in biology. He then did post-doctoral work in biology at the University of Wisconsin (1961-1962).  From 1962 to 1966, he pursued his theological studies for the priesthood at Woodstock College in Maryland and was ordained in the Woodstock College Chapel by Cardinal Lawrence Sheehan, archbishop of Baltimore, on June 12, 1965.  Father Baumiller remained at Woodstock College to continue post-doctoral research in biology from 1966 to 1967 and then was sent to the Jesuit Martyrs Shrine, Auriesville, N.Y., for Tertianship from 1967 to 1968.  Father Baumiller made his Final Profession in the Society of Jesus on August 15, 1971, at Georgetown University.

After completing Tertianship, Father Baumiller taught obstetrics and gynecology in the Georgetown University Medical School from 1968 to 1974.  Following a sabbatical year from 1974 to 1975, he returned to Georgetown to teach biology in the graduate school and pediatrics in the medical school until 1991, when he became dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, Mi.   

From 1995 until his death, Father Baumiller held the positions of associate dean of health programs and professor of biology and philosophy at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.

In addition to his work as associate dean, Father Baumiller was also a guest professor at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Division of Human Genetics. He chaired Xavier's Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Goodwyn IRB, an international commercial IRB. He was a special consultant to Project Hope for its Gaucher Disease Initiative. He served on the Ohio Birth Defects Advisory Council and was an elected board member of the Bioethics Network of Ohio.

Father Baumiller also served on a Data Safety Monitoring Board for the National Institutes of Health, the Genetics Advisory Committee for Catholic Healthcare Partners, and the Ethics Committee for Bayley Place. He was a member of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Cincinnati.

In 2002, Father Baumiller was appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing by then Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

In 2005, he was named an honorary Fellow of The Ohio Academy of Science (OAS). Fellows have rendered some special service to The Ohio Academy of Science or have made extensive, productive scientific, technological or educational contributions to society. “Election as an honorary Fellow is the highest form of recognition by peers offered by The Ohio Academy of Science,” said Lynn E. Elfner, OAS CEO at the time of the honor.

His CV lists more than 140 publications.

“Father Baumiller was not only a distinguished professor and researcher in the area of genetics at many renowned colleges and universities, he was also a very faithful and loyal member of the Jesuit community,” said Joseph A. Bracken, SJ, acting superior of Xavier’s Jesuit community.

Father Baumiller is survived by two sisters, Dorothy Ann Flannery of Davie, Fla., and Harriet B. Perrelli of Towson, Md., and many nieces and nephews.

Announcements from the Maryland Province are published as needed.
This notice is archived on the web: www.mdsj.org/Deaths/Baumiller_Robert_3.htm
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact William Watters, SJ, 410.532.1412.