Robert Navarre Reifsnyder, 88, formerly of Mt. Airy, a physical therapist, died July 6 at Foulkeways in Gwynedd, where he had been a resident since 2004.
Mr. Reifsnyder retired in1996 as a physical therapist at Moss Rehabilitation Hospital. Earlier he had been a physical therapist at Temple University Hospital and Fox Chase Cancer Center..
Mr. Reifsnyder was born in Mexico City, Mexico, to parents who were Presbyterian missionaries. As a child, he and his siblings lived in Mexico, Columbia and Venezuela, and it was in Caracas that he met his future wife, Pat Pugh.
He spent his high school years with relatives in New Jersey and graduated from Tenafly High School. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Lafayette College in 1951, was married, and joined the Navy as medical corpsman, later transferring to the Marines, where he received a medal for sharpshooting.
After leaving the military, he earned a master’s degree in physical therapy from the University of Pennsylvania and began a long and successful career in the Philadelphia area.
Mr. Reifsnyder was a member of the Germantown Monthly Meeting, where he served on the finance, funeral and marriage committees.
He also was a talented sculptor and artist in many different media. He enjoyed croquet, ping pong, tennis, golf and sailing his Sunfish on Lake Annis in Nova Scotia.
He is survived by sons David Bancroft and Peter Cliff; a daughter, Abigail Williams; a brother, David Navarre Reifsnyder; a sister, Ruth Kahoun; and seven grandchildren. Mr. Reifsnyder’s wife died in 2016.
A Memorial Meeting for Worship will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Germantown Monthly Meeting, 47 W. Coulter St. in Germantown. Memorial Donations may be made to Oceana at oceana.org or Donation Services, 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20036; Fox Chase Cancer Center at www.foxchase.org/giving/ways-give/donate-now; or to Germantown Monthly Meeting, 47 West Coulter St., Philadelphia, PA 19144. – WF
