Robert “Bob” Wunner passed away early in the morning of July 23, 2025 in Eureka at age 85.

Bob was born in San Francisco, California in 1939. He grew up working after school in the family grocery business with his three siblings in the Marina district. His immigrant grandfather opened the grocery store after the earthquake of 1906 when he was given a gold coin worth fifty dollars.

Bob’s family moved across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County when he was in mid-childhood, and it was here that he began to appreciate the natural world. He enjoyed walking in the oak woodlands near his home, and the local Boy Scout Troop provided trips to many northern California natural areas in his formative years. He became an Eagle Scout and mentor to other people interested in nature. The summer after he turned 21, he solo hiked the John Muir Trail between Mt. Whitney and Yosemite, roughly 200 miles. Bob was struck by lighting twice during his hikes.

Bob moved to Humboldt County in late 1950s, where he attended Humboldt State College (Cal Poly Humboldt) and studied Wildlife Management. He spent three years at Lava Beds National Monument as a wildlife park ranger and a fire control aide and another year studying and writing about the flora of lava beds. His studies then took him to Montana Biological Station for graduate studies in aquatic plants. He wrote a paper about the flora of Craters of the Moon National Monument, then moved to Lawrence, Kansas to work on a PhD at the University of Kansas. He studied sunflowers of the prairie grasslands, with a focus on introgressive hybridization in sunflowers. This focus on cell genetics gave Bob a widening understanding of the plant world and insights into the impacts of genetics on the landscapes he visited.

Bob served in the Army Reserves and National Guard from 1963-1970.

After returning to Humboldt County, Bob taught biology at the College of the Redwoods for a year and then began working on watershed rehabilitation and salmon restoration in several northeast rivers and streams: Jacoby Creek, Redwood Creek, and the South Fork of the Trinity River. He enjoyed working with like-minded people who became lifelong friends. He later helped establish Lassics Botanical Area south of Ruth Lake and Del Norte Botanical Area on the Smith River. Bob made a map of the North Coast rivers and streams and a plant guide that covered plants from the seashore to Willow Creek.

Bob always enjoyed writing about his adventures and the people he shared his hiking experiences with. His new book, published in 2025, is called Mountains and Streams: A Backcountry Memoir.

He also enjoyed playing guitar, water color painting and cooking. Bob was a terrible cook and his ideas for what might go well together often scared his friends and family. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a tin of sardines, why not? Most of his scary combos were born out of the idea of not wasting things and thus combining them into a meal, but not always. Bob had a wide range of cooking interests from Tibetan food to macrobiotics to good old spaghetti dinners. He worked hard in his later years to improve his culinary reputation, but it may be one goal he did not achieve.

In the 1970’s, he ground his own flour to make bread on a bicycle mounted to a grinder. He loved hunting for all local berries but had a soft spot for huckleberries. If you were on the trail and camping with Bob, it was coffee with grounds (cowboy coffee) or hot chocolate. He loved camping in any weather and had a tent that you could stand up in with a small wood stove that made you feel you were at home.

Bob’s best friend and sweetheart Emelia Berol adventured with him for the last 25 years and helped him reach his dream of completing his book and many other goals he had.

Bob is survived by his daughters Vesta Wunner and Brook Willow; granddaughter Ella Danial; Godson Nick Wren; siblings Susan Evans and Ronald Wunner; nieces and nephews Saiah Wunner-Myers, Kali Baston, Nathan Wunner, Mark Wunner, Maura Duvall, Mathew Evans, and Andrew Evans; numerous grand nieces and nephews; and other family members, including Linda Borgeson, Emelia Berol, Paloma Rollings, Josiah Cain, Lotus Samual, Anna Marsh, Stephen Derby, Brian Evans, Carolyn Wunner, Suzanne Willow, Alison Murray, and Marcia Wunner.

Bob was beloved by many people in our community and attended Rock Steady Boxing twice a week to get the workout and hang out with his buddies. The program was designed to help people with Parkinson’s Disease. Bob’s family appreciates the boxing teachers who were so dedicated to Bob and the participants and the fellowship of his boxing buddies.

Bob’s family would like to extend heartfelt gratitude to Tara Kelly for taking Bob to boxing twice a week and on so many adventures into the local wilds and the caring staff at Eureka Rehabilitation and Wellness Center for their care of Bob during his final days. We would also like to thank Redwood Coast Pace and Agape Home Care staff members for their care of Bob the past few years.

No formal memorial will be held although gatherings of all kinds are certain. Honor Bob’s memory by hiking your favorite trail, cooking your favorite meal, picking berries, telling a story by the camp fire to family and friends, or writing a book and sharing it with the world.

Donations to Jacoby Creek Land Trust, the Yosemite Conservancy, or other nature conservancies of your choice can be made in Bob’s honor.