Robert Louis Bunger Jr.

1944 - 2025

Robert Louis Bunger, Jr. Greenville - Robert Louis Bunger, Jr. passed away on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, peacefully in his home after a brief illness. He was 81 years young. Robert was born March 13, 1944, in Richmond, Virginia to Robert L. Bunger, Sr. and Nancy Haley Bunger. He grew up in and around the Portsmouth, Virginia area and moved to Greenville, North Carolina in 1971 when he began teaching Anthropology at East Carolina University. When Bob was around six years of age, he was taken to the Museum of Natural History in New York City. It was there that he first learned about other cultures and thus began a lifelong interest in understanding how and why people all across the world developed and lived. In 1966, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Old Dominion University in Virginia. He went on to earn his Master of Arts in Anthropology in 1967 and his PhD. in Anthropology in 1972 from Northwestern University in Illinois. While pursuing his doctorate, Bob lived a year in Kenya with a people known as the Pokomo; he published a book of his studies Islamization Among the Upper Pokomo. In 1971, Bob became a Professor of Anthropology at East Carolina and taught Anthropology and Religious Studies for 50 years. During those 50 years, Bob's greatest joy in life was in teaching and mentoring the many students who passed through his classes. He loved assisting them and encouraging them when facing difficulties. Bob was loved by his students for his manner of teaching and how he used his stories to captivate his students with his wide range of knowledge on many different subjects and his storytelling. As a professor and mentor Bob touched so many lives during his 50 years. Raised in the Methodist tradition Bob nevertheless developed a love and interest in Tibetan Buddhism and practiced in the Mayahana lineage with a special interest in the female Green Tara; the Green Tara is known for her profound wisdom, guiding practitioners toward enlightenment and liberation from suffering. He met with the local Buddhist group, KTC and in the 1980s he started a student group at ECU for Buddhist Study and Meditation. His purpose was to introduce attendees to all facets of Buddhism and Buddhist Meditation. The Meditation group was run by students with Bob serving as an Advisor. Bob was as fine a man as you could ever hope to know. He rarely was angered and he never expressed a negative emotion with anyone he ever met or worked with. He treated all who crossed his path with respect and consideration and in turn was respected and admired for the great man that he was. Bob was married twice and from his first marriage his beloved son, Detlev Michaelangelo Bunger, was born in 1972.His greatest sadness was when Detlev was killed in a traffic accident in January 1995. Bob experienced great happiness in his second marriage to Drillie E. Bunger (Li) who he met and married in 1986. He told her many times that he always knew that it was possible to so completely love a person but he did not experience it until he met her. They were married for 38 years. Bob was preceded in death by his father, Robert L. Bunger, Sr. and his mother, Nancy H. Bunger a well as his son, Detlev. He is survived by his wife, Drillie (Li) of the home and by his "special daughter" Margaret Martin Drehobl of San Diego, California. There will be a viewing at Wilkerson Funeral Home on Saturday, April 5, 2025, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM. A memorial service is planned for a later date. Arrangements by Wilkerson Funeral Home & Crematory. Online condolences at www.wilkersonfuneralhome.com