diff --git a/orte/util/proc_info.c b/orte/util/proc_info.c
index 277afa2bc4..8999eea466 100644
--- a/orte/util/proc_info.c
+++ b/orte/util/proc_info.c
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2009-2016 Cisco Systems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2012      Los Alamos National Security, LLC.
  *                         All rights reserved.
- * Copyright (c) 2014-2016 Intel, Inc. All rights reserved
+ * Copyright (c) 2014-2017 Intel, Inc. All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2016      IBM Corporation.  All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
@@ -69,7 +69,6 @@ ORTE_DECLSPEC orte_proc_info_t orte_process_info = {
     .aliases =                         NULL,
     .pid =                             0,
     .proc_type =                       ORTE_PROC_TYPE_NONE,
-    .sync_buf =                        NULL,
     .my_port =                         0,
     .num_restarts =                    0,
     .my_node_rank =                    ORTE_NODE_RANK_INVALID,
@@ -265,9 +264,6 @@ int orte_proc_info(void)
                                   &orte_ess_node_rank);
     orte_process_info.my_node_rank = (orte_node_rank_t) orte_ess_node_rank;
 
-    /* setup the sync buffer */
-    orte_process_info.sync_buf = OBJ_NEW(opal_buffer_t);
-
     return ORTE_SUCCESS;
 }
 
@@ -330,9 +326,6 @@ int orte_proc_info_finalize(void)
 
     orte_process_info.proc_type = ORTE_PROC_TYPE_NONE;
 
-    OBJ_RELEASE(orte_process_info.sync_buf);
-    orte_process_info.sync_buf = NULL;
-
     OBJ_DESTRUCT(&orte_process_info.super);
 
     opal_argv_free(orte_process_info.aliases);
diff --git a/orte/util/proc_info.h b/orte/util/proc_info.h
index 810f31cf84..75d11c2d92 100644
--- a/orte/util/proc_info.h
+++ b/orte/util/proc_info.h
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
  *                         All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2011-2012 Los Alamos National Security, LLC.
  *                         All rights reserved.
- * Copyright (c) 2013-2016 Intel, Inc. All rights reserved
+ * Copyright (c) 2013-2017 Intel, Inc. All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2017      Cisco Systems, Inc.  All rights reserved
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
@@ -99,7 +99,6 @@ struct orte_proc_info_t {
     char **aliases;                     /**< aliases for this node */
     pid_t pid;                          /**< Local process ID for this process */
     orte_proc_type_t proc_type;         /**< Type of process */
-    opal_buffer_t *sync_buf;            /**< buffer to store sync response */
     uint16_t my_port;                   /**< TCP port for out-of-band comm */
     int num_restarts;                   /**< number of times this proc has restarted */
     orte_node_rank_t my_node_rank;      /**< node rank */