Dr. Robert D. "Bob" Hunter

Robert D. “Bob” Hunter died Feb. 11, 2023 at age 94, concluding an energetic life spent in service to Abilene Christian University, Texas higher education, the Abilene community and the state of Texas.

A memorial service is planned for 2 p.m., Saturday, April 29, at the Bob and Shirley Hunter Welcome Center on the campus of Abilene Christian University.  The family will welcome friends at a reception on Friday, April 28 from 5-7 p.m., also at the Welcome Center.

Born June 25, 1928, in Dodge City, Kansas, Hunter was the tenth of 12 children born to Grover Cleveland Hunter and Grace May Grubb Hunter.

Hunter was best known in the Abilene community for the 20 years he spent as the 79 ^th and 71 ^st district representative to the Texas Legislature.  That portion of his career began in August 1986 when he became the first Republican from Taylor County elected to the Texas House.  In a special election to replace former Rep. Gary Thompson, he defeated Democrat Larry Holmes by 162 votes of nearly 10,000 cast.  The subsequent 10 elections were less dramatic. Two he won easily. Eight times he ran unopposed.

In the House, Hunter earned a reputation of cheerfulness, unfailing integrity and doggedly working on behalf of higher education and his constituents in Abilene and Taylor County.  In 20 years he missed only one roll-call vote when he was unable to persuade doctors who were treating him for possible heart attack symptoms that he should be released to return to the Capitol.

He chaired the Committee on State, Federal and International Relations for 10 years, and later led the House Research Organization and was vice chair for the Committee on Regulated Industries.  He served on the House Higher Education Committee where he chaired Budget and Oversight.  He co-chaired the Special House Select Committee on NAFTA and GATT international trade agreements.

A significant accomplishment of his legislative career typified his commitment to his district over personal interests. Hunter championed the bill that allowed Cisco College to build an Abilene campus during a contentious special session in the summer of 1990. Gov. Bill Clements threatened to quash the bill because Hunter had voted to override the governor’s veto of the education spending bill.  In order to get the bill passed, Hunter agreed to remove his name from the Cisco College bill, thus relinquishing any credit for it on paper, though not in the eyes of his colleagues or constituents.

The next year, Speaker Gib Lewis, a conservative Democrat, appointed Hunter to the powerful House Committee on Appropriations and Hunter chaired the state’s budget for higher education.  At the time, Lewis said, “No one in the House understands the dual system of higher education in our state and nation better than Representative Bob Hunter.”

Lewis was one of many Texas political luminaries from both parties who made the trip to Abilene for the many appreciation luncheons and other fundraising events that punctuated his two decades of service in Austin.

Hunter’s understanding of the Texas dual system of higher education began with his service to ACU and his leadership as executive vice president of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas (ICUT) from 1970-1980 where in 1971 he successfully lobbied for creation of the Tuition Equalization Grant.  At the time of its enactment, Texas was one of only six states to pass such a measure. Eventually all but one state offered some form of financial assistance to students at independent colleges, many following the Texas model.

Over the past 50-plus years, students at private institutions in Texas received more than 1 million individual TEG awards totaling more than $2.6 billion.

Hunter’s work for ICUT and in the legislature led to a variety of appointments and awards from state and national boards and commissions related to higher education.  Over the course of his career, he received honorary doctorates from ACU, Texas Wesleyan College, University of St. Thomas, Austin College, Hardin-Simmons University and McMurry University, and from Pepperdine University in California in 1974.

Thirty years earlier, a move to California from his native Kansas while still in high school was prompted by his interest the music business, an ambition begun as an 8-year-old singing on the radio.

Hunter graduated from high school in San Mateo and initially applied to the University of California before he and a friend met the long-since retired Jesse P. Sewell, a legendary early president of Abilene Christian College.  The friends had never heard of the school but soon were making plans to attend, as Hunter would later write,  “after being subjected to the dynamic influence of Brother Sewell and the local minister.”

He enrolled in the fall of 1948 and became a leader in all aspects of campus life, serving as president of the “A” Club, California Club, Frater Sodalis Men’s Social Club and performing in the A Cappella Chorus and Men’s Quartet. He was vice president of the Student Association and a statewide officer in the Texas Intercollegiate Student Association.

After completing his bachelor’s degree in business in 1952, he spent a semester at the University of Texas Law School in Austin before beginning a tour of service in the Navy during the Korean Conflict that included work as the top secret security aide to two admirals on two aircraft carriers.

While on his Far Eastern assignment, on May 27, 1954, Bob married Shirley Long of Austin who was living with her parents in Bangkok, Thailand, while her father was on a state department assignment.  A Christian ceremony in the Presbyterian International Church performed by a Baptist missionary preceded an official Siamese government ceremony. The couple honeymooned in Thailand and then made their home in Japan until the fall of 1955 when they returned to Washington D.C. for an assignment with the National Security Agency.

During his year in Washington, D.C., he served as president of the ACC Booster Club chapter there until his discharge from the Navy. In a hand-typed and signed biographical brief prepared by Hunter in July 1956, he concluded:  “And now, a new and what is hoped to be a lasting chapter in our lives will begin unfolding in September, 1956 at Abilene Christian College in Abilene, Texas.”

Hunter’s first, brief employment by the university had been the summer after he graduated when he spent three months recruiting prospective students. He returned as director of special events, the first of many titles and many firsts.  In 1957 he became the school’s first director of alumni relations.  While in that role he initiated the Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Award and persuaded the theatre department to begin the annual Homecoming musical with “The Wizard of Oz,” which sold out to more than 3,000 people its first year.

A year earlier he had gained permission from the Student Life Committee to begin Sing Song, the annual musical performance that would grow to be the single largest student activity on campus each year.

In 1962, Hunter became assistant to then president Don H. Morris, a role from which he directed the 10-year Design for Development that led to construction of Moody Coliseum, Foster Science Building, McGlothlin Campus Center, Brown Library and eventually the Don H. Morris Center and other projects. He served as vice president for public relations and development from 1969-1974, and vice president of the university beginning in 1974 under Dr. John C. Stevens. During those years he also served one term as a member of the Abilene City Council.

Active in civic affairs throughout his life in Abilene, Bob served on the board of directors or advisory boards for the Abilene Classical Chorus, Meals on Wheels, West Texas Rehabilitation Center, Boys and Girls Club, Abilene/Taylor County Child Advocacy Center, YMCA, United Way, Business Aid, Rolling Plains Technical Foundation, Texas Trails Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Salvation Army, Mental Health Association, Junior League, West Texas Autism Center, Day Nursery of Abilene and the Cancer Services Network. He was a member of the Community Justice Council for Taylor-Callahan-Coleman Counties and became a lifetime member of the VFW and the American Legion.

He and Shirley were active members of University Church of Christ in Abilene for more than 50 years.

In 1985 he became senior vice president, a role that continued to include the university’s relations with government, remaining in that post until his official retirement in 1993.

That year he was honored by a tribute luncheon selling out the conference center at the Abilene Civic Center raising $160,000 to establish the Bob and Shirley Hunter Endowed Scholarship fund.

In February 2006, the ACU Board of Trustees voted to name the Hunter Welcome Center in honor of Bob and Shirley. The facility serves as the centerpiece of the east side of the campus and is the first place visited by many prospective students, alumni and campus guests.

An imagineer at heart, Hunter is credited with originating more than two dozen traditions at ACU to enrich the student and alumni experience, including Freshman Follies, the Parade of Flags at Opening Assembly, the President’s Circle Dinner and the annual alumni awards program as well as Sing Song and the Homecoming Musical.

Hunter was preceded in death by his parents, siblings and his wife Shirley. He is survived by their three children and their spouses:  Kent Hunter and Jonathan Blumberg of Sharon, CT, Carole Phillips and her husband Danny of Colleyville, and Les Hunter of Pasadena, CA. He is also survived by five grandchildren: Landon and Jennifer Phillips, Chad and Aundrea Phillips, Mitchell and Emily Danesi, Dino Hunter and Lyra Hunter; and by five great grandchildren: Crawford Danesi, Henley Danesi, Beckham Phillips and Kenzo Phillips.

Those wishing to honor Hunter’s life may do so with a gift to the Bob and Shirley Hunter Endowed Scholarship at ACU (ACU Box 29132, Abilene, Texas 79699-9132 or link.acu.edu/hun ), or the charity of their choice.

If you are unable to come and celebrate Dr. Hunter's life in person we welcome you to join in by watching via livestream at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-JEh-LKV_k .