Chuck Dunbar

Charles “Chuck” Abbott Dunbar, 86, of Lake Clarke Shores, Fla., and a former longtime resident of Aspen, died peacefully at home on Dec. 28, 2010.

Born in 1924 to Charles Enoch and Hazel Abbott Dunbar, the family lived in Garden City, Long Island, N.Y. Chuck attended Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia and Fordham University in New York City.

He served honorably in the U.S. Army as well as in the Navy Reserve during World War II.

He was a successful entrepreneur and salesman, holding positions at IBM and CBS in New York City; as sales manager at WERE in Cleveland; as owner and president of KVOR, a CBS affiliate in Colorado Springs, and later as a vice president of E.F. Hutton in New York. In 1974 he brokered the sale of the Fort Worth Star Telegram media empire of newspapers, radio and television stations and cable systems. It was the largest media sale to that date.

Chuck was president of Dunbar-Murphy of Palm Beach, Fla., and later Communications Advisors of Dallas. He and his family lived alternately between Palm Beach and Aspen.

An avid skier, Chuck also loved to pilot his twin engine Aero Cammander to the Bahamas and Jamaica. He served as usher at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church for many years and played the part of lord of the manor in the Boar’s Head performance in 2010.

He and his wife, Jane Murphy Dunbar, were married on Jan. 3, 1961 at the Royal Poinciana Chapel in Palm Beach.

He is survived by his wife, son Gregory, daughter Colleen and daughter Deborah Brooks of Dallas; Sidney Dodge of Bellingham, Wash., daughter Shelley Dodge of Denver, daughter Katherine Morss of Boulder, son Geoffrey of Colorado Springs and son Peter Dodge of Miami.

Other survivors are 12 grandchildren: Booker and Brooks Laughlin, Devon and Alexis Sigler, James Dunbar, Christopher Hayes, Matthew and Patrick Dunbar, Bryan Brooks, Sidney, Riker and Asa Morss; and three great-grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his first wife, Marguerite Dunn Curtis, and his sister, Maxine Dunbar Holt.