Obituary of Dr Peter Benjamin Dunne

Dr. Peter Benjamin Dunne, 89, of St Petersburg, FL, died August 28 in the care of Suncoast Hospice.  Born in New York, NY, he attended North Phoenix High School, Harvard College, BA 1955, and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, MD 1960. After internship and residency in internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital, he did a residency and fellowship in neurology at the Neurological Institute of Columbia University. He entered private practice with the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group in Los Angeles, working simultaneously as assistant clinical professor of neurology at the USC School of Medicine. Drafted into the US Army in 1968, he spent a year serving in Vietnam, then at Letterman General Hospital, and was discharged in 1970 as a Lieutenant Colonel, returning to Kaiser and USC. Recruited back to full-time academic medicine, he joined the faculty at the University of Vermont Medical School. He then joined the founding faculty at the University of South Florida Medical School in 1973. Between 1973 and 2002, Dr. Dunne held many positions at the USF Medical School, the James A. Haley V.A. Hospital, University Community Hospital, and Tampa General Hospital, and was Chief of the USF Multiple Sclerosis Clinic. He was in private practice as well from the late 1970s until 1992, and consulted on veterinary neurological cases at Busch Gardens and Lowry Park Zoo. Returning to USF, he became Chair of the Department of Neurology until his retirement in 2007 as Professor and Chairman Emeritus. Loving education and clinical work, he continued to teach and treat patients at the James A. Haley V.A. Hospital for several more years.

 

Dr. Dunne's commitment to the treatment of MS led to numerous positions with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Florida Gulf Coast Multiple Sclerosis Society, and he was a founding member of the MS Section of the American Academy of Neurology. His publications include ten peer-reviewed articles in medical and scientific journals, and he was co-author of the book Neurology Case Studies. 

 

In addition to his deep interest in medical history, Dr. Dunne loved music, competitive running and tennis, history, languages and martinis. He was a founding Board Member of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay and a long-time supporter of the USF School of Music and the Florida Orchestra.

 

He was predeceased by his parents Finley Peter Dunne, Jr, and Evelyn Dunne, and his sister Patricia Dunne Rosenblad. He is survived by his wife, Faith, and children Sarah E. Dunne (Symon Rankine) and Andrew Finley Dunne (Julie Houck); and beloved cat, Tula.

 

In lieu of flowers, please consider contributions to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society or the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay.

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