Bunge, Raymond G., 1908-1998

Raymond G. Bunge was born April 8, 1908, in St. Johns, Michigan, to Carl and Anna (Ernst) Bunge. He graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1936, where he served as vice-president of his class. He married Ruth Elizabeth Lyday on June 20, 1936, in Ann Arbor Michigan. They had five children. From 1938 to 1941 he was a resident at the University of Iowa College of Medicine. After serving as a captain in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946, he returned to Iowa City and resumed his work as an instructor in the Department of Urology of the College of Medicine. He was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1947, Associate Professor in 1949, and from 1953 to 1976 was Professor of Urology. He received the status of Professor Emeritus prior to his retirement in 1976. He was an honorary member of the Sigma Xi Fraternity. He was also a member of the American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons, the American Medical Association, the American Tissue Culture Association, Diplomate, the American Board of Urology (1943), the American Urological Association, the Iowa State Medical Society, the Iowa Urological Society, the North Central Section, and Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. In March 1970 he was awarded the Ayerst Lectureship Award from the American Fertility Society. He is best known for his pioneering research in artificial insemination, androgyny and infertility, specifically in sperm banking techniques. With his background in tissue culturing, he helped develop the initial understanding of and successes with sperm preservation. Dr. Bunge, working with Dr. James Bradbury, orchestrated the world's first successful human pregnancy from frozen sperm. He also participated in early attempts to develop the amle contraceptive pill. Raymond G. Bunge died on February 20, 1998, in Iowa City at age 89.