On August 16, 2023, George Gustavus Kundahl, 83, died in Naples, Florida at Avow Hospice. George Kundahl was the beloved husband of Joy Kundahl, the father of Gustavus and Griffith Kundahl, and the dear grandfather of Kate, Caroline, and Harrison Kundahl.
George Kundahl was born in Washington D.C. on July 7,1940 and raised in Chevy Chase, Maryland until attending Davidson College in North Carolina earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1962. He attended the University of Alabama to obtain a Master of Arts in 1964 and a Ph.D. degree in Political Science in 1967.
George graduated from Army Command and General Staff College in 1980 and Army War College in 1983. From 1990-1993 he worked in the Pentagon as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. He served as Chief of Staff of the Military Order of the World Wars from 1996-2000. He attained the rank of Major General in the US Army Reserve.
Along with his lifetime devotion to military service, George also served in government as a civilian during which he was a Budget Examiner at the Office of Management and Budget, and the Executive Director (1981-1990) of the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
George loved to travel and enjoyed living with Joy in the south of France for twenty years during which they made many friends and pursued a variety of interests. While there he authored The Riviera at War, which detailed the World War II experience in the French Riviera.
His passion for Civil War research and the example of his direct ancestor Captain John Morris Wampler inspired General Kundahl to write Confederate Engineer (2000), a detailed account of Wampler’s war experience, and one of the only books written about the unique perspective of a civil engineer. Later books on the Civil War that he authored include Alexandria Goes to War (2004) and The Bravest of the Brave (2014).
George will be dearly missed by his family and friends and fondly remembered as a loving husband, devoted father, and dear friend with a relentless curiosity, a prodigious drive, and an occasional flair for minor mischief.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any donations be made to Avow Hospice online at avowcares.org.