Robert Dean Hunter
Robert Dean Hunter, known as Robert D. Hunter or Bob Hunter, is a retired vice president at Church of Christ-affiliated Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, and a Republican former member of the Texas House of Representatives, in which from 1986 to 2007 he represented District 71.
Hunter was born in Dodge City in western Kansas. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration degrees from Abilene Christian University. He also holds honorary doctorates from Pepperdine University near Malibu, California, Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, the University of St. Thomas in Houston, and the Southern Baptist-affiliated Hardin-Simmons University, also in Abilene.
On 9 August 1986, Hunter won a special election with 50.5 percent of the ballots cast to fill the District 71 House seat vacated by the Democrat Gary E. Thompson, who resigned on 2 June. Hunter became the first Republican since Reconstruction to represent Abilene and Taylor County in the state legislature.
Hunter and his wife, the former Shirley M. Long, have resided in Abilene since 1956. The 57,000-square-foot Hunter Welcome Center, named in their honor, was dedicated at ACU in 2009.
