Friends and family of former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt gathered Friday to remember him. His funeral was held at First Presbyterian Church of Wilson.
Hunt, a Democrat, was the longest-serving governor in the state’s history, serving two eight-year terms, first from 1977 to 1985, and then again from 1993 until 2001.
“He is somebody who gave so much of his life and himself to the state of North Carolina,” said Mike Easley, who followed Hunt to the governor’s mansion.
“He loved North Carolina, but he loved the people of North Carolina more than anything else. And the people loved him.”
A book of condolences for Hunt’s family is available through Jan. 2 at the North Carolina State Capitol.
Opportunity through education
While Hunt is known for his backing of public education in North Carolina, the overarching theme of his work in government, according to Easley, was opportunity.
Easley said Hunt was always working toward “opportunity for safe schools, for safe neighborhoods, opportunity for better jobs, higher pay, higher quality of life.
“Opportunity to bring in better companies to replace manufacturing and textiles and move into the 21st century economy and he did that,” Easley said. “He progressed as much as anybody who’s ever served in that position. And he made the rest of us do the same thing.”
A lifetime of public service through politics
Hunt grew up on his family’s tobacco and dairy farm in Wilson County but got involved in politics early, serving as president of the North Carolina Junior Grange and North Carolina Future Farmers of America while still in high school.
He served two terms as student body president while at North Carolina State University, and was president of what would later become the Young Democrats of North Carolina after getting his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“That experience in student government at N.C. State really taught me a lot,” he said in a 2009 university video celebrating the 50th anniversary of his graduation. “As a student leader, I realized what our responsibility was. It wasn’t just a lark or something to have fun or to make trouble or whatever. We had a responsibility to help make the campus better and give students the opportunity for a better education.”
Hunt was elected lieutenant governor in 1972 and won a landslide victory for his first term as governor in 1976.
He pushed an agenda heavy on improving education, cleaning up government and expanding the state’s economy.
I can think of no one who shaped North Carolina’s recent successes as much as Governor Jim Hunt.Gov. Josh Stein
“I can think of no one who shaped North Carolina’s recent successes as much as Governor Jim Hunt,” said current North Carolina governor Josh Stein. “On a personal level, he was a mentor and a dear friend. He certainly was for North Carolina.”
Hunt also founded the Hunt Institute for Education Leadership and Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Institute for Emerging Issues at North Carolina State University and created the North Carolina School for Science and Math. Hunt has been credited for transforming the state’s public education system and preparing North Carolina for the 21st-century economy.
Those who worked closely with him remember a leader whose words resonated with the people and whose actions left a lasting imprint.
Those who worked closely with him remember a leader whose words resonated with the people and whose actions left a lasting imprint. Clay Johnson, who worked with Hunt — both as deputy press secretary and covering him as a reporter and WRAL documentary producer — described him as a unique figure in the political landscape, someone whose mold was truly one of a kind.
“His tenure was marked not just by political achievements but by his genuine nature and commitment to the betterment of the state,” Johnson said.
