Bruce H. Hunt, of Marshfield, passed away on October 9, 2019, at the age of 86. Beloved husband of Marcia (Pickering) Hunt; loving father of Eliza Furtado and her husband Matthew of Hopedale, Peter Hunt and his wife Laurie of Washington, Christopher Hunt and his wife Lorene of Hopedale, and the late Sarah Hunt and her surviving husband Thomas Willshire of New Jersey; cherished grandfather of Henry, Emily, Jared, Edward, Rebecca, Sarah, and Jackson; dear brother of the late Scotia Crest of Assonet and of Albert Hunt of North Carolina; brother-in-law of Thomas R. Pickering of Virginia; uncle and great uncle to many beloved nieces and nephews and their children.

Brought up in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Bruce graduated from Brown University, after which he served two years in the Navy, primarily stationed on the U.S.S. Aldebaran. In 1956, Bruce attended Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, where he earned his MA in education. In 1957, he took a position as a social studies teacher at Northport High School on Long Island, New York, beginning his 38-year career as an educator. The following year Bruce and Marcia Pickering married and, in 2018, celebrated their 60th anniversary.

Bruce was always searching for a better way to teach and to learn. In the late 1970s and 1980s in Northport, Bruce was an innovator and the moving force behind designing and implementing unique classes and novel teaching methods. The classes Bruce helped create are still taught at Northport High School.

Bruce was always deeply involved in civil rights, domestic policy, and international relations. By the early 1960's, Bruce was an active and innovative civil rights leader, as head of the Fair Housing Association of Huntington, New York, and chair of the Huntington Human Relations Committee. In 1965, Bruce was awarded a John Hay Fellowship at Northwestern University, which took him to Chicago for a year, during which time he went to Alabama for a week to march with Dr. Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery.

A historian, traveler, and philosopher, Bruce lived a life few could imagine. He made his own – and his family's – adventures, which led to new and exotic journeys. In 1970 Bruce took his family to Greece, where he taught at the American Community Schools for six years, sparking a a lifelong love affair with Greece. After Bruce retired from Northport High School, he and Marcia took positions at the American Embassy School in Damascus, Syria, where they lived for five years. In 1998, they permanently retired, moving to Skiathos, a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Bruce and Marcia spent 16 years there.

Bruce kept in touch with many beloved students, following their lives' trajectories, and offering support and guidance where needed. Bruce's students reciprocated, reminding him how his open, inclusive, and dynamic teaching helped them discover their own values and, eventually, their chosen careers.

After Bruce's death, one of his favorite students likened Bruce to the ancient mystic poet, Rumi:

" I am like a firjar [the drafting compass that draws circles] with one foot planted firmly in the land of sharia while the other sought 72 nations." He was saying that if you are sure of your values and principles, you should not be afraid to seek, discover, learn from and deeply engage with how others live and think.

I believe Bruce was also like Rumi's compass, one of his feet planted firmly in the best of American and enlightenment ideals of freedom, rational thought and deliberation, and inquiry, but his other foot gently sought and left its trace around the world. Bruce encouraged me to be my own compass. I've tried to live up the lofty expectations he set for me. I was honored to be present as he completed his circle.

In 2014, Bruce and Marcia moved back to the U.S., to Bluefish Cove in Brant Rock, Massachusetts. They lived in the Grey Gull – a cottage on the water that has been in Bruce's family for nearly a century.

Bruce's final years at the Grey Gull were filled with joy, love, and visits with dear family and friends; intellectual pondering, prolific writing, and deep conversation. And, as everyone who knew Bruce will confirm, there was always laughter. Bruce loved laughing, making other people laugh, and telling bad jokes - the worse the better. He was the Granddaddy of "groaners;" the patron of puns; the relentless deliveryman of dad jokes.

Yet it was his everyday life with family and friends – not terrible jokes – that gave Bruce the greatest joys and the heartiest laughs. Bruce's humor was non-stop and infectious, and touched all those who visited the Grey Gull, where all were welcome.

Bruce's legacy lives on with his family, friends, and diaspora of former students.

Services for Bruce will be private. Gifts in his memory can be made to the American Civil Liberties Union by mail to the ACLU Gift Processing Dept., 125 Broad Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10004 https://www.aclu.org/ or to a charity of your choice.