Dr. J.F. (Jerome Fry) Honsberger practiced medicine in Delhi, Ontario for eight years before moving to Berlin, Ontario (now Kitchener) in 1895. He served as Waterloo County Coroner from 1904 to 1937, and was appointed medical health officer for the city of Kitchener in 1907. From 1921 to 1929 he was medical director for the Mutual Life Assurance Co. and was one of the founders of the Freeport Sanitarium, completed in 1915. His medical practice spanned 50 years.

Dr. Honsberger was active in the community from the time of his arrival, working in various capacities on the city's Board of Education, on the Urban Trustees Association, on the board of the YMCA, on the Berlin Orphanage board, and on the Board of Trustees of Trinity United Church. He was elected alderman in 1902 and served for two years; and from 1931 to 1935 served on the Kitchener Old Age Pensions Commission. He was active in the Canadian Club and organized a Kitchener Branch of the League of Nations Society. In 1911 he represented Canada at the International Hygiene Congress in Dresden, Germany.