Gerald W. Bennett

Dr. Bennett, Gerald W. of East Moriches, Suddenly in his 84 year.

Renowned for a career in high-energy nuclear physics that spanned over three decades, Dr. Gerald Bennett was a leading figure during a period of significant advances at the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Medical Division during the 1970’s and 80’s. Having contributed and co-authored over 60 scientific publications and helping create some of the first true weapons in the detection and fight against cancer, Dr. Bennett was a major part of the science and research that lead to the treatment and medical imaging tools available to help doctors see and fight the disease in its various forms today.

Gerald was born on June 15, 1933 in Rockville Center to Mary and William. The family later moved to the Flatbush area of Brooklyn and Gerald attended St. John’s Prep where he began what would become a lifelong and sterling academic career. After graduating with top academic honors, Bennett went on to Brooklyn PolyTech to earn his Bachelor’s in engineering, a degree he immediately put to use thereafter in 1954 when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In 1956, while stationed in Heidelberg, Germany, Bennett would meet his future wife and mother to his 6 children, Hannelore, a woman who, even well into their more than 60 years of marriage, he adoringly referred to as “his girlfriend”. After returning to the United States with a new bride and his first born son, Bennett would return to his education forthright, earning his Master’s degree from Hofstra University and his Doctorate from Stony Brook University in the field in which he would later make his greatest impact, Nuclear Physics.

In 1969, Bennett began his work at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY, heading a team that conducted radiation and shielding experiments with the proton accelerator. A later medical application of the team’s research brought a grant from the National Cancer Institute that allowed Bennett to further his research into the emerging field of proton beam therapy and its application for cancer treatment.

Following the grant, Bennett continued his work at BNL, or “the lab” as he affectionately referred to it, aiding in research on a variety of its most renowned projects, including the Cosmotron large particle accelerator and the UNICOM medical imaging system. Following his work at the BNL, Bennett served as an active member of IEEE, SNM, AAPM, ACNM and Diplomat of the American Board of Sciences in Nuclear Medicine, as well as consulting for private ventures and establishing his own business, Bennett Technology.

In his retirement, Dr. Bennett relished in his role as Patriarch to such a large family, regularly bringing everyone together for meals that ranged from Indonesian to German. He was an avid hunter, boatsman, teacher, epicurean, a devoted friend, and adamant lover of academia and perpetual education.

Dr. Gerald Bennett is survived by, his wife Hannelore, his sisters, Pat and Eileen, his children William, James, Mark, Paul, and Kathleen and fifteen grandchildren, and of late his sister Rosalie and son Eric.

Services will be held at Moloney-Sinnickson’s Funeral Home, 203 Main St, Center Moriches, NY, 11934 on Tuesday, October 17th from 2-5 PM.