Goetz Richter

1922 - 2020

RICHTER, Dr. Goetz Wilfried Gert

Dr. Goetz Wilfried Gert Richter, 97, of Dunwoody, Georgia, died of Covid-19 at Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, on December 6, 2020. He was born in Berlin, Germany, on December 19, 1922, the son of Werner and Ursula Meyer Richter, and spent his childhood years in Berlin. He attended the Humanistisches Gymnasium in Basel, Switzerland, from 1936 until moving with his family to Elmhurst, Illinois, in August, 1939.

Dr. Richter graduated in 1940 from York High School in Elmhurst and then attended Williams College, in Williamstown, Massachusetts. After graduating in 1943 with a B.A. in Political Science he enrolled in The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and enlisted in the US Army. Dr. Richter received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1948 and completed a residency in pathology at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. He began his professional career there as one of the pioneers in the field of electron microscopy and experimental pathology. His research was supported by The Rockefeller Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, among others. He was a founder of the International Review of Experimental Pathology and editor of Sandritter's Color Atlas and Textbook of Histopathology.

During the Korean War Dr. Richter joined the United States Navy and served as Chief of Laboratories at the Naval Hospital in Corona, California. After the war he served on the faculty of Cornell University Medical College until 1967, when he joined the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of Rochester as Professor of Pathology. He retired in 1992 but continued to give lectures as Professor Emeritus until he moved to Dunwoody, Georgia, in 1999. Over the years he was a dedicated teacher and mentor to countless medical students and research assistants.

Dr. Richter studied the violin as a boy and had a lifelong love of classical music. His favorite composers were Bach, Mozart and Schubert. He also loved poetry, hiking, and travel, especially in Germany and Switzerland.

Dr. Richter married Mary Lucretia Henry on December, 28, 1946, and they were married almost 40 years until her death in 1986. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Erich Richter, and sister Valborg Richter Boyd. He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, James Richter and Melinda Wells of Cherry Log, Georgia, daughter and son-in law Elizabeth Richter Turpin and Steven Turpin of Muncie, Indiana, daughter Marianne Richter of Columbus, Georgia, his brother Eckhart Richter of Atlanta, his sister Gisela Richter Reffel of Immenstaad, Germany, granddaughter Ellen Richter, M.D. (Lee Peifer) of Atlanta, granddaughter Emily Richter (Luke Powell) of Birmingham, Alabama, and great-granddaughters Laura and Hailey Peifer of Atlanta. In addition he is survived by his niece and nephews Monica Boyd, Everett Vokes, M.D., and John Richter and their families.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Lucretia H. Richter Nursing Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 93220, Rochester, NY 14692.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, there will be no funeral service. Cremation arrangements are by the Cremation Society of Georgia.