Memorial services will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at Chapel of the Cross for one of the University of North Carolina’s favorite sons, Douglass Hunt, who died on New Year’s Day in the hospice at the Meadowlands in Hillsborough. He was 86.
After a long legal career and a stint as assistant to the secretary of the treasury in the Johnson Administration, Hunt was successfully convinced to return to his alma mater in 1973 by then-Chancellor Ferebee Taylor. For the next three decades, Hunt, a member of the Carolina class of 1946, served the university, holding the title “special assistant†to a succession of chancellors until his “partial†retirement in 1996.
Chancellor Holden Thorp lauded Hunt’s dedication to the university and said his passing was particularly sad because of the connection between Thorp’s family and the Hunts.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Mary Jane and the Hunt family. By any measure, Doug Hunt was one of Carolina’s model citizens,†Thorp said. “His love for and knowledge of the University was especially intense. The University community has lost an incredible resource. I am also proud to have had a longstanding personal connection to Mr. Hunt because he babysat my father when he lived in Rocky Mount. The Thorp family has always considered him a great friend.â€
– Staff Reports