Reinke, William “Butch”

About William C. “Butch” Reinke

An ‘Appalachian Red’ eastern redbud on campus is dedicated to William “Butch” Reinke, the former Executive Director of Project Management at the University of Maryland Office of Information Technology (OIT). Mr. Reinke was born in Refugio, Texas. He received a bachelor’s degree from Texas Lutheran College and a master’s degree in computer science from Texas A&M in 1972. He taught high school math and later worked at the data processing center at Texas A&M. Mr. Reinke then became director of the Administrative Computer Center at UMD and later the Director of Operations and Enterprise Applications at the OIT. Mr. Reinke was a big sports fan, playing handball and bridge and helping coach his son’s teams. Butch Reinke passed away on May 27, 2004 from a brain tumor at his home in Laurel, MD.¹

About the ‘Appalachian Red’ Eastern Redbud

The tree dedicated to Butch Reinke is located east of AV Williams, between Lot GG1 and the Paint Branch Stream. It is an ‘Appalachian Red’ eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis ‘Appalachian Red’), a tree with a native spread from the Atlantic coast to central Texas. The eastern redbud has a short, maroon-purple trunk and is often multi-trunked. It has a round, wide-spreading crown of branches. The tree has smooth, heart-shaped² dull green to blue-green deciduous leaves with a papery texture and turn yellow in the fall. After flowering, bean-like, dry seed pods form that mature to brown in the summer and remain until the winter. The eastern redbud is commonly found in open woodlands and their margins, limestone glades and along rocky streams and bluffs. The ‘Appalachian Red’ cultivar has tiny, pea-like red flowers in tight clusters that bloom in early spring before the leaves appear and grows to be 15-25 feet tall. This specific cultivar was first discovered growing along a road in Maryland.³