Renowned Composer, Sonatherapist, and Ordained Minister Reverend Dr. Gary Robert Buchanan Dies at 72

Reverend Dr. Gary Robert Buchanan, local composer, conductor, Sonatherapist, minister at the International Community of Christ, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather passed away on October 16, 2020, after a year-long fight against cancer. He is survived by his wife Amanda Buchanan, sons Bradley Buchanan of Ventura, California, and Kym Buchanan of Wisconsin, daughter Amy Buchanan-Rodriquez of Reno, and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 24, 2020, at the Chapel of the Holy Child, 643 Ralston Street, Reno, Nevada.

Dr. Buchanan lived a long and decorated life in the arts and ministry for the International Community of Christ. After attending the North Carolina School of the Arts where he studied trumpet, he went on to pursue a Master’s Degree in Music Composition at North Carolina University and received a Ph.D. from the University of Washington. Dr. Buchanan taught composition under Crown appointment at the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane, Australia for three years before ultimately making a home in Reno, Nevada.

Living in Reno led Dr. Buchanan to connect and collaborate with the late Gene Savoy Sr. and as the music director for the International Community of Christ, Church of the Second Advent, together they created all the liturgical music for the Church. Dr. Buchanan accompanied Gene Savoy Sr. and his family on expeditions to Peru and various excursions all around the world.

“I met Gary when I was seven years old,” reminisces Gene Savoy Jr., President of Cosolargy International and Head Bishop-Overseer of the International Community of Christ, Church of the Second Advent. “He was my music teacher, my geometry teacher, and a very close family friend. We went all around the world together. Not only was he a kind man and a gentle soul, but he was a wealth of knowledge. We had many, many hours of conversation. The world truly lost a source of light with his passing.”

For many years, Dr. Buchanan taught music and geometry at the Jamilian Parochial School and served on the Church’s Sacred Oversee and on the faculty of the Jamilian University of the Ordained. In the 1990s, Dr. Buchanan composed several works commissioned by the director of the Ruby Mountain Symphony in Elko, Nevada to accompany theatrical performances by cowboy poet and Mark Twain impressionist MacAvoy Layne. During this time, Dr. Buchanan also established the Foundation Orchestra, which he conducted and arranged music for into the early 2000s. Dr. Buchanan, a talented arranger and musician, also arranged works for the Ruby Mountain Symphony and the Reno Pops Orchestra and played french horn in performance with the Carson City Symphony and the Reno Pops Orchestra.

For 30 years, Dr. Buchanan researched Wave Front Bioresonance and wrote two books on this subject while Director of Wave Front Bioresonance at the Healing Center and Spa at Steamboat Hot Springs in Reno, Nevada. Gary lectured internationally each year to share his research with select audiences in Europe, Japan, the U.S., and other nations. In 2018, he presented to the Globe International Sound Healing Conference in San Francisco; in 2017 to the International Light Association in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; in 2016 to the International Water Conference in Sophia, Bulgaria; and in 2015 to the International Conference on the Spiritual State of the World at Lake Biwako, Japan.

Dr. Buchanan’s greatest joys in life were spending time with his three children, twelve grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. While he will be missed by many in the Reno community, he lives on through his family.

To learn more about Dr. Buchanan’s life and career, visit his website http://garyrobertbuchanan.com/.

Memorial service seating will be limited so the family is requesting RSVPs be made at (775)-786-7827.