Deeply involved in educational matters all his life, Dunbar graduated from the Lawrenceville School and then did a year abroad at the Harrow School before coming to Princeton, where he was a member of Cap and Gown, majored in English, and wrote a thesis on T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets.” He graduated from Harvard Business School before joining the Navy and serving in the Intelligence Division in Morocco.
Returning to Memphis, where he was born, Dunbar joined the family business, Ozburn-Abston (later Parts Inc.) but was also deeply involved in a number of institutions, serving on the boards of Rhodes College, the Memphis Zoo, the Memphis Library Foundation, and the Memphis Symphony, as well as the Lawrenceville School and the Hutchinson School. He established chairs at the Lawrenceville School, Rhodes College, and the Tennessee Shakespeare Company.
Dunbar died July 9, 2019, at home in Memphis. He is survived by his wife, Connie; four children; four adopted children, 16 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.