Dr. Julius Ronald Berger

Beloved Husband, Father, Grandfather, Professor, and Innovator
1937 - 2025
Dr. Julius Ronald Berger, 88, of White Plains, New York, formerly of Washington Heights, passed away peacefully on Sunday, October 26, 2025, surrounded by his loving family.
He is survived by his devoted wife, Ellen Berger, his cherished children Dr. Kenneth Berger and Lauren Berger, and his beloved grandchildren Diana and Benjamin Finkel.
Dr. Berger's family fled nazi Germany and settled in Washington Heights where he was born. He grew up in a community who valued perseverance, education, and compassion — principles that guided him throughout his life. A graduate of City College of New York (B.S. 1961) and the University of Buffalo School of Dentistry (D.D.S. 1965), he went on to become one of New York City's most respected dental educators, innovators, and public servants.
As a young student, Julius once watched a professor struggle to focus a microscope while holding a specimen. Inspired, he invented a hands-free, foot-pedal microscope — the first of many practical innovations he created. Over the decades, he developed new medical devices, including a machine to freeze-dry chemicals and a feeding aid for infants with cleft palates, improving the lives of countless patients.
Dr. Berger served as the longest running Professor and Chairman of the Department of Dental and Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery at Kings County Hospital Center, Director of Dentistry - Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Director of Dentistry - Maimonides Medical Center, - Director Dental and Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Interim Medical Director and Senior Associate Dean, Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine, Director of the Cleft Lip & Palate Program, Maimonides Medical Center/Kings County Hospital Center.
Through his vision and determination, he was credited with revitalizing the Kings County dental department — transforming it into a thriving center serving over 30,000 patients annually.
In recognition of his decades of service and innovation, Dr. Berger received the Alfred P. Sloan Public Service Award in 2010, presented by Mayor Blooomberg, one of the city's highest honors for civil servants whose work "transcends not merely the ordinary but the extraordinary."
He was a Fellow of the American College of Dentists, the International College of Dentists, and the Pierre Fauchard Academy, and authored or co-authored dozens of professional papers that advanced the fields of oral and maxillofacial surgery and hospital-based dentistry. He also served as mentor and teacher to generations of young dentists, who remember him for his precision, humor, and unwavering belief in the importance of public service.
To his colleagues, Julius was an outstanding clinician and a generous teacher. To his family and friends, he was a man of wit, warmth, and loyalty — someone whose presence could light up a room and whose guidance could steady any course. He loved skiing, tennis, golf, and above all, the company of those he loved most.
Dr. Berger's legacy will live on in the thousands of patients he helped, the students he taught, and the family who adored him.

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Dr. Julius Ronald Berger, please visit our flower store.