LeRoy Dunn, Ph.D, of Wilmington, died Aug. 4, 2015, at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. He was 90.
He was born on March 25, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York, to Goodman and Rose Dunn. The eighth child of 10, he attended Erasmus Hall High School and at 17 joined the U.S. Marine Corps, serving in the Pacific during WWII.
After the Marines he attended American University in Washington, D.C., completing his degree in less than three years and worked at the Federal Reserve. Before taking up a fellowship to study economics in London, Dr. Dunn went to Paris to pursue his lifelong passion for opera and singing, studying as a tenor.
In 1952 he attended the London School of Economics. In London he met his wife Gaby and his daughters were born. After completing his Ph.D with a dissertation on estate taxation, Dr. Dunn initially taught at Brown University. The family then moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where his sons were born.
Dr. Dunn taught economics at Trinity College for over 30 years, riding his bicycle to and from work each day for most of his career (a practice still carried out by his son David and grandson Anson). Dr. Dunn did insightful research in the 1970s working with the U.S. Senate on energy issues during the oil embargo. In 1996, LeRoy and Gaby moved to Washington, D.C., and in 2013 to Wilmington.
His surviving family includes his wife, Gabriele Weissrock Dunn; children, Rebecca Dunn Reinmann (husband Paul), of Wilmington, Louise Dunn Gendelman (husband Joel), of Pfafftown, David (wife Tamara Dunietz), of Bethesda, Maryland, and Jonathan, of Wellington, New Zealand; grandchildren, Anson (wife Audrey), Owen (wife Anne), Renee, Michael, Eitan, Benjamin and Simone; and great-grandson Roland.
A graveside service was held Thursday morning, Aug. 6, 2015, at the Temple of Israel’s Jewish cemetery.
Donations can be made in his honor to the Temple of Israel, 1 S.4th St., Wilmington, NC 28401.
Please leave online condolences for the family at Wilmington Funeral & Cremation.
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