Ernest Buresh, 1926-2022

Cornell Life Trustee and Iowa banker Ernest J. Buresh died April 24, 2022. He was 95.

Buresh served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and held an agricultural engineering degree from Iowa State University, a J.D. from the University of Iowa, and a banking degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Banking. He married Joanne Paulsen Buresh ’51 in 1949. 

After law school he worked in the trust department at Merchants National Bank in Cedar Rapids until purchasing the Martelle Savings Bank and Anamosa Savings Bank. The family, now including two daughters, moved to Anamosa in 1963, where they would reside until moving to Cedar Rapids in 1992. During their years in Anamosa, Buresh purchased banks in Onslow, Tipton, Springville, Shueyville, and Cedar Rapids, and finally bought and restored a historic downtown Cedar Rapids bank. He continued in banking until the flood of 2008.

He provided for a family that included a daughter with special needs, not only financially but by investing his time. There were family car vacations every summer, and later trips to Europe and then with the grandchildren to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Disney World.

Buresh served on the boards of Cornell College, the University of Iowa Foundation, and the Hall-Perrine Foundation, and was a life director at Cedar Rapids’ St. Luke’s Hospital. He was a generous philanthropist, especially to libraries, education, and health and human services institutions in the region.

He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Joanne, daughter Wendy Buresh ’74 and her husband Alan Robb, and two grandchildren.