John McKenzie Gunn, 97, of Lexington, Virginia, died Saturday, October 16, following his beloved wife, Charlotte (2014) and elder son, John (1986) in death.

His younger son, David Gunn Mecsas, daughter-in-law Joan Mecsas, granddaughter, Gwendolyn Lee Mecsas and an extended family, live on to celebrate his life another day.

John was born January 16, 1924 in Pensacola, Fla., the first of John McKenzie and Gladys MacMillan Gunn's four children. He spent his childhood in Cuthbert, Ga., before moving to Montgomery, Ala., just before John's senior year.

John entered W&L in September 1941, arriving via train on what is now the Chessie Trail. The war interrupted his studies in February 1943, and after training he joined the 84th Infantry Division's Medical Corps.

In September 1944, the 84th took up the extreme left flank of the Allied Forces' main front. Though his duties were primarily clerical (think Radar O'Reilly), he was often pressed into service in the OR and was bedside at the deaths of more than a dozen of his fellow soldiers. Later, the 84th helped repulse the point of the German offensive in the Battle of the Bulge.

After the war, John was stationed in Paris for several months, where he attended the Sorbonne and spent an afternoon in salon with Gertrude Stein.

Upon returning to the states, he transferred to Georgia Tech, graduating with a degree in physics in 1949. After working for nine months as a metallurgist, he decided his real passion was economics. Using the GI Bill, he went to the University of North Carolina, and then to Princeton for graduate school, focusing on international finance.

John's first academic job was at Florida State University. He was quite content there, but in September 1957, he got the chance to return to W&L as an Assistant Professor of Economics. He had found his calling.

In Lexington, no fewer than four couples tried to set John up with Charlotte Hall Davis. Those friends knew what they were doing, and John and Charlotte wed in 1958. John immediately adopted Charlotte's young son, John, and David joined the family in 1960.

At W&L, John quickly earned a reputation as a demanding teacher. But for many students, the classroom was only the beginning of their mentorship under John. He excelled in helping students move to the next stage, whether it was finding a job, applying to business or law school, or applying for a post-graduate fellowship, and he followed his students after graduating, often helping them at later stages of their careers. Many became lifelong friends.

John received numerous recognitions at the university, but none were more meaningful to him than the establishment of two endowed scholarships in his name. The John M. Gunn International Scholarship brings exceptional international students to W&L to study for one year. The John McKenzie Gunn Scholarship is awarded to rising W&L seniors majoring in economics on the basis of outstanding achievement, leadership and character. Over the years John relished getting to know many of the various Gunn scholars.

In recent years W&L has been debating whether it should keep Lee's name. From his arrival, John had admired Lee, but over the last few years he and others uncovered evidence that Lee's roles at W&L had been exaggerated. He also came to reject – like the university - the Lost Cause thinking that justified much of the Lee worship, and found he could forgive neither Lee's treason nor his leadership of the war to preserve and extend slavery. In May 2021 he joined the call to drop Lee's name.

In 1984, John's older son, John, was diagnosed with schizophrenia, eventually losing his life to this terrible disease. Wanting resources and finding few, John and Charlotte became active in the Alliance for the Mentally Ill. John eventually served on the state and national boards of directors and as the national treasurer. He testified before Congress, advocating for better funding for mental health research. He was also passionate about brain donation.

Locally, John served as president of the PTA for several years and was an active member of the local Democratic Party. He also helped create the Lexington Lacrosse Club, which played its first official game in 1976 and eventually morphed into the Rockbridge High lacrosse team.

In 2008 John and Charlotte moved from their home on a bluff high above the Maury River to the Kendal retirement community. The family wishes to thank both the Kendal staff and residents for the community they create, as well as the staff of the Borden Center where John spent the last two months of his life.

Finally, John Gunn was a wonderful storyteller, and his life gave him plenty of material. Despite tragedy and war, his was a charmed life and those around him were warmed by it.

A memorial service will be held at University Chapel on the W&L campus on Sunday, October 24 at 2 p.m. with a reception to follow in Evans Hall. Donations in memory of John may be made to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill or the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council.

A longer, more personal version of this obituary and more pictures of John's life can be found at ,a href="https://www.forevermissed.com/john-m-gunn/">www.forevermissed.com/john-m-gunn/. The official W&L obituary may be found at https://columns.wlu.edu/in-memoriam-john-mckenzie-gunn-jr-45/.