To our campus community –
It is with sadness we report the passing of Richard Neil “Dick” Baney, Sr., an accomplished physician and U.S. Navy veteran who helped bring now-President Emeritus Anthony Catanese to Florida Tech over a 34-year tenure of distinction and impact on the university’s Board of Trustees.
Dr. Baney passed away peacefully on Sept. 14. He was 89.
“Dick Baney was a pillar of Florida Tech,” Catanese said, noting that his 14 years as president all came during Baney’s board service. “He was always a terrific supporter in the educational mission of Florida Tech and also in fundraising.
“We will always remember him.”
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Pittsburgh, Dr. Baney would receive a full, four-year scholarship to Georgetown University, where he graduated in 1958. He earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1963 and interned at the VA Hospital and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas.
Dr. Baney then enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving as a medical officer on the submarines USS Andrew Jackson and USS Kamehameha, where he was a “Plank Owner” – an unofficial designation for crew who were part of a newly built vessel’s original commissioning. He was an active reservist until 1970.
The Baneys arrived in Titusville, Florida, in the mid-1970s after Dr. Baney finished his residency in internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He served as president of the medical staff at Jess Parish Hospital in Titusville before moving to Melbourne, where he joined and later helped lead Melbourne Internal Medicine Associates (MIMA) – which became Health First Medical Group after the hospital system purchased the physician group in 2013. He also served as medical director of what is now Holmes Regional Medical Center.
“Dr. Baney is inextricably part of our history at Health First, and the community is better for having had him in it,” said Terry Forde, Health First’s president and CEO and a Florida Tech trustee.
His passion for community affairs was strong, and in 1986 Dr. Baney was named to Florida Tech’s Board of Trustees. It was a role he would hold for the next three-and-a-half decades as he and others helped Florida Tech grow its physical footprint and its standing as a leading national research university.
Among his lasting contributions is the establishment of one of the university’s premier fundraisers for athletic scholarships: Sporting Affair and Chopper Dropper. Baney joined with fellow trustees Joseph Flammio and Travis Proctor and then-President Catanese to develop these paired events, which with their five-figure top prize and deserving beneficiary became a key function on the social philanthropy calendar.
“Dick Baney cared deeply about Florida Tech, and his steady presence on our board for three-plus decades helped propel us forward in important ways,” said Florida Tech President John Nicklow. “Florida Tech will miss his friendship.”
Dr. Baney transitioned to Florida Tech Trustee Emeritus in 2018.
Beyond campus, he was instrumental in attracting Sea Pines Hospital to Melbourne and was a founding director and chairman of Reliance Bank and Bank Brevard. He served as president of the Brevard County Medical Society and as Commodore of the Eau Gallie Yacht Club.
Catanese and Baney became close friends, traveling with their spouses to England, Ireland and Scotland, often working in a few rounds of golf along the way. His family said Dr. Baney’s life goal was to achieve a single-digit handicap in golf – in other words, to be very good.
As the obituary said, “full disclosure: he never got close.”
But their time on the links and elsewhere illuminated for Catanese what made Baney so remarkable: “his incredible joy.”
“I can’t think of one occasion in the many years that I knew him that I saw him angry. That even extends to my recent home where he was my nextdoor neighbor and I accidentally cut his cable,” Catanese said. “He just laughed it off.”
Dr. Baney was predeceased by his wife of 62 years, Carolyn Baney, “the love of his life,” as his obituary noted. A 1992 Florida Tech graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business communications, she was named Outstanding Alumni for the College of Psychology and Liberal Arts in 2023.
He is survived by his four children – Richard Baney, Jr. (Anne), Michael Baney (Nancy), Marisa Baney Jensen (Jeff), Brian Baney (Bonnie) – nine grandchildren and former daughter-in-law Holly.
