Originally published in the Baltimore Sun on May 31, 2012
Gerard "Gerry" Francis Kunkel, husband for 59 years of the late Eleanore "Bobbie" Lee Kunkel, a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather passed away after a long illness at his home surrounded by his loving family.
Gerard, 87 years old, a Harford County native, and son of the late John N. Kunkel II and the late Dorothea Bilz Kunkel of Bel Air, attended Saint Margaret’s School, Mount Washington Day School, Georgetown Preparatory School and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1949 where he was a member of Theta XI fraternity. Gerard served in the Army at Los Alamos, N.M., as an engineer on the Atomic Bomb "Manhattan" Project. In 1947, he entered the family business, The Kunkel Service Co. He served as president from 1964 until retirement in 1995, growing the business from four to 15 stores during his tenure. Gerard served as the first president of the Maryland Golf and Country Club and the second President of Swan Creek Country Club. He served on the Board of Harford Memorial Hospital for 29 years and was a director of the First National Bank of Harford County and the Harford County Advisory Board of the 1st National Bank of Maryland and the Board of John Carroll High School. He was the past president of the Bel Air Rotary Club and Chesapeake Automotive Wholesalers Association. Kunkel was also a past partner of Tire Village and Harco Distributors of National Beer
and Pepsi Cola.
He was very active in the lives of his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and was no stranger to the sport sidelines or in helping his children in their various personal and business endeavors. He was a very active and supportive father and will be greatly missed. Mr. Kunkel is predeceased by his loving wife, Eleanore Lee Kunkel, and his two sisters Katharine K. Pons and Helen K. Archer. He is survived by his six children and their spouses: Sarah Kunkel Filkins of Bel Air, Julia Kunkel Morrison and husband, John of Wilmington, North Carolina, John N. Kunkel III and wife Ellen of Joppa, his son Gerard F. Kunkel, Jr. and his wife Paula of Darlington, Thomas MW Kunkel and his fiancé Sheri Schiavone of Perry Hall, and Mary Michael Kunkel Rosling and husband Shawn of Bel Air. He is also survived by 14 loving grandchildren and one grandson on the way and five great-grandchildren.
Memory tributes may be sent to the family at mccomasfuneralhome.com.
