Maxon Buscher

Obituary of Maxon Buscher

Max was born and raised in upstate New York. His father was a career Coast Guard Chief, so Max spent his earlier years at lighthouse stations along Lake Michigan and the St. Lawrence River. The family later moved to Fall River, Massachusetts, where he went to high school. After graduating from high school he spent his next 4 years serving our country in the U.S. Navy as a top secret communications specialist. His ship was a key player providing vital information to the US Government at the time of the Cuban missile crisis. After the Navy he went to the University of Massachusetts majoring in mathematics and physics. Max spent his career devoted to helping humanity as the noted dosimetrist at the oncology Center at Tufts New England Medical Center. His work involved calculating the precise doses needed to administer safe levels of radiation to a multitude of different types of cancerous tumors. As oncology treatments advanced, so did medical imaging technology making Max’s job much more complex and detailed. Max quickly mastered the skills to keep up with these changes and presented a scientific paper about what he had learned to the National Academy of Dosimetrists. Max was a brilliant and gifted mathematician and physicist. He loved mathematics in its purist form, especially theoretical mathematics and was able to develop his own sound mathematical theorems. His mind was always sharp, perceptive and curious. Max was very creative and he had an incredible gift for writing short stories and poems. His writings varied, reflecting his diverse moods and outlook on life at the time; humorous, touching, reflective, fearful and dark, or tongue-in-cheek. He often told stories about his childhood recollections about the beauty and wonders of growing up around lighthouse stations. He wrote a very heartwarming story about the time the sky actually rained a deluge of frogs in the middle of the night, which prompted emergency efforts from the family to save the frogs from hungry seagulls. Poetry, however, was Max's favorite form of expression, which was beautiful; sometimes difficult to understand, but worth the effort to grasp the deeper underlying meaning. One of his ultimate goals was to have one of his poems published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. His wish was fulfilled when his poem "Artists Always Sign Their Work" was published in that Journal just a few days before he passed away. Max’s passing away seems untimely and unexpected, although inevitable. His departure leaves a big hole, an ache in our soul and profound sense that part of our life is now and forever incomplete and to be found no more. All this being said, nevertheless, we can be at peace within ourselves because we know that we will see him again someday as we step into eternity alongside him.
Share Your Memory of
Maxon