[1] Although he studied medicine and law at Duquesne University, he returned to the family business in 1931 due to the advent of the Great Depression.
[2] This also led him to delve into general real estate investments when he began to purchase property throughout the city and region including the West End, the South Side, the North Side, and Westmoreland County and Beaver County,[1] becoming one of the city's largest real estate investors and property owners.
[1] In 1960s, he sold his scrap yard on the North Side to the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority for the construction of Three Rivers Stadium.
[1] Buncher belonged to the older generation of Pittsburgh real estate developers - such as Edward J. Lewis, Joseph Soffer, Stanley Gumberg, and Leonard Rudolph - who conducted business with a handshake.
[10] Buncher was known for being a tough negotiator and rarely sold the property he purchased: "Once you sell it, you don't have it anymore.