A Tribute to Steve Bunce

One of the words that came to mind when thinking about the “personage” (if that is the right way to express things – apologies to all English teachers) of Monsieur Bunce, is that of “bonhomie”. I looked it up online on the Internet and see that it comes from the French root: “bon homme”, which can be translated as: a good-natured man; a person having a pleasant and affable disposition; a genial person. Which is what he surely was!

In Steve’s company, one always had the impression that we should be smoking cigars and quaffing cognac, at the very least…

I was in Steve’s class many years ago. To speak with pride – our years were the part time class of 1983 to 1985 - the worker class where we came to evening lectures and were busy with our jobs during the day! Well, Steve stands out as being one of the more colourful students of those times. Every now and again, we would hear his deep voice booming out or muttering quietly about something or other. Two Steve’s come to mind in that class – the other one did a case study on how to market condoms and had the class howling with laughter, and this Steve, often had us laughing about other stuff and wondering what he would be up to next.

In some ways, he reminded me of the archetypal naughty boy who has to kick every ball or break a couple of clocks or electrical devices to see how they work. His years with Dorbyl as an Industrial Relations legal adviser sound like another way of getting into the minds and emotions of different groups of people and finding out what made them tick.

After years of not being on the WBS campus, I happened to attend one of the evening lectures about a year or so ago, and Steve was there. He had just taken on the role of Chairman of the Alumni Committee and I wondered whether he would remember me from so many years previously. Before I knew it, I had been roped onto the Committee. The challenge at the time was to make a success of WBS’s 40th Anniversary dinner which everybody was hard at work on. Professor Ncube is very supportive of Steve and the Committee’s efforts, and he and Steve used to spend quite a bit of time together, plotting an scheming about how else to make the Committee more relevant and more of a feature of the Business School.

Steve has left a legacy on the Committee, as many of the current members were recruited by him and I speak for us all when I say that he will always be remembered with fondness and with a chuckle about some of his mannerisms and antics. I know he had lots of dreams about the role that WBS can play in the South African society and business environment, and the current Committee, under the able Chairmanship of Dominic Illett, will be working hard to carry on the work that he set in motion.

One of the things I really liked about Steve, is that he seemed to be the kind of guy who really liked and coped with clever women. I remember how proud he was of his wife Johanna, and how glad he was to have met and married her. I also remember how he liked to flirt, and would have liked a whole harem of women around him on the Committee! He could also regale one with stories of his sporting interests and Ferrari Club racing challenges.

Steve was exceptionally proud of his three children and his stepson, and would gladly tell one of all their achievements, at great length. They were clearly a very important and vital factor in his life.

Rather than drinking tea together at the WBS, in memory of Steve, I think it is more appropriate to raise a glass to him – a deep-voiced man overflowing with bonhomie - who we will miss a great deal, and who has left behind a great deal to be proud of. Our thoughts go out to his family at this time.