James Biemer

BIEMER, James Joseph a retired pathologist, most recently of Gainesville, FL, passed away on May 7, 2024. He was 91. Dr. Biemer was born in 1933 and raised in Butler, NJ, the son of George, a tool-and-die maker, and Florence Biemer. He was their fifth and youngest child and the first in his family to go to college, attending Villanova University on a full ride. Dr. Biemer was an outstanding student and, after just three years of college, he was accepted into Temple University Medical School. He earned his MD and entered the US Navy, training to become a pathologist at Bethesda Naval Hospital (now Walter Reed). He met Louise Keffer, through his college friend Jack Keffer, and they married in 1956. They had six children and would later adopt and raise two of their grandchildren as well. He served 11 years as an officer in the US Navy, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander. Soon after completing his service, the family moved to Tampa, FL, and Dr. Biemer began working at St. Joseph's Hospital, where he worked for 30 years until retiring in 1999 as Chief of Pathology and Director of Laboratories. He was proud to be one of the founding members of the hospital's Ethics Committee and was thrilled that three of his children also entered the medical field. Dr. Biemer was a man of many interests and skills. In his mid-fifties, he pursued his lifelong love of aviation and earned his pilot's license, with Instrument Rating, and would proudly say that he landed his beloved Beechcraft Bonanza in every state except Hawaii. He also was a high school football player, a fierce and accomplished club tennis player, a talented oil painter, an avid gardener, a world traveler, an enthusiastic snow skier, an inaugural inductee to the Butler High School Hall of Honor, a devout Catholic, a devoted husband of 67 years, a loving father, and a proud grandfather and great-grandfather. He spent most of his retirement years at the family's beach house in Stone Harbor, NJ, where he and his wife hosted family gatherings that they will always cherish. Since 2014, he and his wife resided at Oak Hammock Retirement Community in Gainesville. Although it is hard to say goodbye, his family will always remember him throwing the football in the backyard, teaching them to sail, driving them on long family road trips to national parks, being the first one to hit the dance floor at every wedding, belting out Christmas songs with his Biemer relatives as his mother played piano, jogging around Lake Carroll with their golden retriever, taking them on plane rides, growing giant beefsteak tomatoes in his garden, baking Jersey peach pies in the summer, cracking jokes, telling stories, discussing politics, listening to Mozart, cheering for Villanova, drinking his Rob Roys, holding hands with his wife, and looking at the Rocky Mountains and exclaiming, "Isn't it just magnificent!" Dr. Biemer loved being a doctor and was filled with joy and amazement at where his life took him. He was forever grateful to those who helped him along the way. His family, too, will be forever thankful and inspired by him. Dr. Biemer is survived by his wife, Louise; his sister, Joan, his sons, Jim, George and John; his daughters, Elizabeth and Louise; his adopted grandsons, Michael and Christopher; nine additional grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He is pre-deceased by his daughter, Mary; his brother, George, and his sisters, Helen and Margaret. A funeral mass will be held at Queen of Peace Catholic Community in Gainesville, FL on Monday June 10, 2024 at 10 am followed by interment at the columbarium. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Dr. Biemer's name to Villanova University. Please visit his memorial page at www.williamsthomasfuneralhome.com. For further information, contact: Williams-Thomas Downtown 352-376-7556