top of page

Christopher Dunnaville '79

August 25, 1961 - June 15, 2023

 

With sadness, we report the passing of Christopher Dunnaville '79.


Christopher Dunnaville, father, entrepreneur, and professor, died on Thursday, June 15 in Portland, Oregon. He was 61.


Chris led a beautiful life. He was known for his great intelligence, his overwhelming dedication and commitment to parenting, his honesty and his wry sense of humor. He threw himself into everything he did, from teaching and community building, to canning and vegetable gardening.


He had a robust appreciation for good wine, good food and good basketball – and he didn’t hesitate to point out when something wasn’t up to par. To Chris, his friends were his family: He included them all in his warm, caring embrace.


Paramount for Chris was helping others benefit from his life lessons. After retiring in 2011 from Smith Barney, he taught and mentored students in finance, first at Concordia University and then, starting in 2013, the University of Portland, where he was Director of the Financial Education Program and a Senior Finance Instructor at the Pamplin School of Business.


At UP, Chris spearheaded the expansion of personal finance in the curriculum and started a student-run Cash Flow Club, which included a program for college students to teach high school students how to set financial goals and understand basic investment skills.


“As a parent myself, I think that when we send our kids off to college, one of the things we hope is that when our kids graduate, we want them to be not only book smart, but we also want them to have matured and gained some life skills so that they can take care of themselves, their eventual families, and communities,” Chris said in a UP blog in April 2022.


Chris‘s dedication to his community included helping others overcome cultural and economic barriers to realize their full potential. He served on the Board of Directors at Concordia University and at Self Enhancement Inc., an organization that provides academic and wraparound support to African American students and their families in Portland.


He was also an active member of the Sigma Pi Phi (Grand Boule) Fraternity and published a book on divorce tips. He was working towards a doctorate in Education, writing a thesis entitled "Reducing Inequities in the Racial Wealth Gap: The Impact of Initiatives to Achieve Parity."


Christopher Dunnaville was born August 25, 1961 at Sydenham Hospital in Harlem. His father, Clarence M. Dunnaville, Jr., is a well-known attorney, civil rights veteran, legal reformer, author, and activist for justice. His late mother, Emma T. Frances, was a social worker.


Chris grew up in New York City, where he attended Friends Seminary, a Quaker day school. He completed his undergraduate degree in finance and marketing at Georgetown University and earned a Masters in Real Estate Finance and Development from New York University.


When he was 16, Chris began his career on Wall Street as a runner on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He loved the stock market, and after college he became a broker for Shearson Lehman. He held numerous positions while working on Wall Street. He also managed several small businesses, including a pet supply company, an Amazon e-commerce business, and a golf driving range.


The light of Chris’s life was his daughter Allie, whom he raised as a single parent. He poured all his love and knowledge into parenting, bursting with pride and always there to witness and celebrate her many successes, from the soccer field at Catlin Gabel School to the campus of New York University in Shanghai, China.


In addition to his daughter, Chris is survived by his father, Clarence Moseley Dunnaville, Jr., his brothers Peter Gunter Dunnaville, Andrew McDaniel Dunnaville, his sister-in-law Massa Alrayes Dunnaville, his nephew Zayn Rayes Dunnaville, and his brother Cameron Francis.

Comments


© 2024 Friends Seminary

Please note: For privacy, search engines such as Google do not index the information found in this web-based newsletter.

  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Vimeo
bottom of page