Marriage and Family
While teaching at Howard University in 1928, Bunche met Ruth Harris, who took a class from him. They married June 23, 1930. The couple had three children: Joan Harris Bunche (b. 1931), Jane Johnson Bunche (b. 1933) (later married to Burton Pierce), and Ralph J. Bunche, Jr. (b. 1943). At the time of his death, Bunche was survived by his wife, daughter Joan, son Ralph and three Pierce grandchildren. His wife later enjoyed three additional grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
On October 9, 1966, their daughter Jane Bunche Pierce fell or jumped from the roof of her Riverdale, Bronx apartment building; her death was believed to be suicide. She left no note. She was married to Burton Pierce, a Cornell University alumnus who was a labor relations executive, and they had three children. Their apartment was on the first floor of the building.
Read more about this topic: Ralph Bunche
Famous quotes containing the words marriage and/or family:
“We lov’d, and we lov’d, as long as we could,
Till our love was lov’d out in us both;
But our marriage is dead, when the pleasure is fled:
‘Twas pleasure first made it an oath.”
—John Dryden (1631–1700)
“Because it’s not only that a child is inseparable from the family in which he lives, but that the lives of families are determined by the community in which they live and the cultural tradition from which they come.”
—Bernice Weissbourd (20th century)