Bion B. Bierer Jr.

Bion was raised in the small northeastern town of Hiawatha where his family resided for four generations. He always had fond memories of growing up in Hiawatha with his brother, David, playing football on his high school team, and helping in the Bierer family general store. He was a serious student, valedictorian of his high school class.

Following two years at the University of Kansas where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, Bion entered the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating with the class of 1953. He reported aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge in early June, a few days before it departed San Diego for the Korean War. He also saw China Service at Quemoy and Matsu in the Taiwan Strait during the 1955 crisis. A year later, he was Engineering Officer assigned to the destroyer USS Brownson for an extended deployment in the Persian Gulf.

After six years of active duty, Bion chose to pursue a business career. He graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA in 1961 and subsequently spent most of his career with Bristol-Myers Squibb in New York City where he was Director of Operations Analysis. In New York, he met and married Loretta Mary Kett in 1968. She was the love of his life for 57 years. They were blessed with three children, Jennifer, Gregory, and Daniel. Their married life was filled with their shared faith in Christ, loving family and friends, travels to other countries, a passion for reading, sailing on their trawler “Gratitude” from Florida to Annapolis, and playing “mostly” social bridge.

Following early retirement, Bion returned to Kansas to attend to family matters, and was later associated with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. In 1998, Bion moved to Stuart, Florida and subsequently to Cary, NC. ...Bion had a life-long interest in economics, investments, writing, marine art, and building model ships. He was published in the Harvard Business Review, and authored the book, Howard Schafer, Journey of a Marine Artist, a tribute to his friend and sailing companion in Stuart, Florida. He also wrote and published In Retrospect: A Bierer Family Chronicle to compile genealogical records and photos of his early family dating back to 1653. ...Bion was a member of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church of Cary, and The Robert Means Thompson Society of the Naval Academy.

Bion’s memory will be cherished by his wife Loretta; three children, Jennifer Bierer Butler and husband Christopher Butler of Cary, NC; Gregory Bion Bierer of Redondo Beach, CA, and Daniel Everard Bierer of Kansas City, MO; granddaughters Emma Butler of Durham, NC, Lindsay Butler of Raleigh, NC, Kate Butler of Charlotte, NC, Kailyn Bierer and Olivia Bierer of Redondo Beach, CA; and great-granddaughter Mary Grace Butler of Durham, NC. Bion was preceded in death by his parents Bion & Gladys, and his brother David.

A Funeral Mass will be held on October 27, 2025 at 11 AM at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Cary, NC. Inurnment with Naval Military Honors will follow at the church columbarium. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in honor of Bion may be made to The Robert Means Thompson Society of the Naval Academy or St. Michael the Archangel Church of Cary.

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