Donald V. Buttenheim

12/11/2006

Donald V. Buttenheim, 91, of Kimball Farms Retirement Community died there yesterday after a brief illness. Born in Hastings, N.Y., on July 23, 1915, son of Edgar J. and Marian Voorhees Buttenheim, he was a graduate of The Taft School in Watertown, Conn., and a 1937 summa cum laude graduate of Williams College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He moved to Lenox 12 years ago. Mr. Buttenheim worked 40 years in the family business, Buttenheim Publishing Corp., which published magazines and reference books. He was also the publisher and part owner of Contractors and Engineers magazine, which covered highway and heavy construction in the United States. He was director of the Construction Industry Manufacturers' Association for many years and became its president in 1960. At one time, he was a director of the American Business Press, and served as president in 1970. In 1948, Mr. Buttenheim moved to Mount Kisco, N.Y., where he launched the effort to centralize the six area school districts and became the first president of the Bedford Central School District Board of Education. He served two terms as president of the New York State Citizens Committee for Public Schools, and was a delegate to President Dwight D. Eisenhower's White House conference on education. He served a five-year term as alumni trustee of The Taft School, and a 14-year term on the board of trustees and a four-year term as president of the board of Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y. He was a charter member of the Trustee Committee of the National Association of Independent Schools and active in the Independent School Chairmen Association. He also served 10 years as a trustee of the Council for Religion in Independent Schools, now the Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education. He and his wife, the former Kathleen Howell, were married in 1939. Besides his wife, he leaves two sons, Richard M. Buttenheim of Hoosick, N.Y., and Peter V. Buttenheim of Wilmington, Del.; three daughters, Deborah Brumell of Oakville, Ontario, Canada, Judith Stevens of Madison, Conn., and Nancy Buttenheim of Pittsfield; a sister, Constance Swain of Sarasota, Fla.; two brothers, Edgar M. Buttenheim of Princeton, N.J., and Curtis Buttenheim of Dennis; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. FUNERAL NOTICE -- A memorial service for Donald V. Buttenheim, who died Monday, Dec. 11, 2006, will be held in the spring at First Congregational Church in Stockbridge. Another service subsequently will be held at the Church of St. Joseph of Arimathea in Elmsford, N.Y. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to either church.

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