Robert Bunch

Robert "Bob" Kent Bunch made his ultimate curtain call in Concord, New Hampshire on November 27, 2025. He was raised on Dutch Street within a large and loving family headed by Cleopatra (Cherry) Jones and James Erving Jones. He made up an integral part of the communities in which he took part. He expressed appreciation throughout his life of being raised in his small town that provided sustenance and embraced him and his family.

In his wake he leaves an amazing legacy through his selfless devotion to other people and the communities in which he took part. From the many he helped pursue their dreams and for whom he built furniture or troubleshot their computers, he expected nothing in return. He surrounded himself with those, who like him, promoted integrity and justice.

Bob valued education and was relentless in pursuing his own. He put himself through college at SUNY Buffalo and Stoney Brook through his employment at Croton Egg farm and a local battery factory. His early entrepreneurship led to his cutting the hair of fellow college students, and cleaning houses and landscaping summers for people in and around Montrose. He commuted to these jobs by his one speed bicycle over significant distances. He successfully administered Upward Bound and Neighborhood Youth Corps. while he was in his early to mid 20s. He used imagination and innovation to resolve many of his clients' issues during his brief employment as a social worker.

His greatest loves were teaching and research and he excelled in both. He earned his PhD. in Sociology. In an effort to learn methods of theory analyses, Bob earned his second Ph.D. in Philosophy only to learn that philosophical methods were significantly limited and could not adequately answer his inquiries. He forged ahead and completed his dissertation, "What Is a Theory? A Systematic Inquiry into the Nature of Theories and How They Can Be Analyzed, Evaluated, and Compared." Clearly he was an original thinker and a true maverick.

Bob was voted the most friendly by his peers at Hendrick Hudson School where he thrived. Bob saw the best in people and promoted others to do so too. Like his late parents, his legacy will last for many generations to come.

His greatest joy during his free time were motorcycle rides alone, with his father, and with his brothers and sister. He commuted from Montrose to Brooklyn and Buffalo during all weather conditions on his bike and rode to destinations along the eastern seaboard including New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Among those who love him are his wife of 30 years, Sandra Dale Polleys-Bunch, his brothers and sisters, Lorretta Kearsley (deceased), George Bunch (deceased), James Bunch (deceased), Maxine Kumepor, and Ronald Bunch (deceased), his half-siblings Carolyn Carrington, Kevin Jones, and Butch Jones, and his foster brothers and sisters, Rayfield Bethea, Henry Bethea, Renee Long, Denie Long, Gregory Long, and others.

A celebration of life and legacy will be held at Reformed Church of Cortlandtown, 2124 Albany Post Rd., Montrose, NY. Pastor Asayo Thomas will officiate. Please feel free to send checks or credit card data to the Zonta Club, Concord, NH in lieu of flowers. One hundred percent of your donations will be used toward scholarships for women in the Concord, NH area.