ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Robert Sterling Brunk passed away on Thursday, June 11, 2026, at age 84. He died, surrounded by loved ones, from complications associated with multiple sclerosis. Bob was a person who approached life with determination, and his battle with MS was no different.
Bob was born on April 14, 1942, in Chicago, into a Mennonite family. He grew up in Lombard, Ill., and graduated from Goshen College, where he met his wife, Jan. He earned his master’s degree in community organization from the University of Michigan and attended Princeton Theological Seminary. The couple moved to Western North Carolina so he could take a job with the Office of Economic Opportunity to promote civil rights.
He lived in the Asheville area for almost 60 years, and it is difficult to accurately convey the Venn diagram of professional and artistic pursuits that filled those years. He began as a professor at UNC-A. He was a sculptor, a collector, a social anthropologist, a woodworker and a farmer. He worked as an antique dealer, community organizer, auctioneer and author. Bob was passionate about the material and cultural history of Western North Carolina. In the early 1970s, he and Jan built by hand a stone and wood A-frame house on a remote farm at the head of Sugar Creek Road in Barnardsville, N.C. There, for a time, he and his family pursued a self-reliant life as he founded Sugar Creek Wood Designs and became a successful artist. He patented a traveling Amish-style cradle that is part of the Smithsonian Museum collection in Washington, DC, and he also began singing shape-note music, a vibrant, communal, participatory music tradition deeply rooted in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
In 1983, Bob founded Brunk Auctions, which became a regional powerhouse. After several years as a one-man operation, he hired his first full-time employee in 1987. He retired in 2010. The company now has 30 full-time staff, conducts at least 30 annual auctions and works with buyers and sellers from around the world. Longtime employees and clients fondly remember Bob’s penchant for telling stories from the auction podium. The anthropology professor was still there.
“As a young ceramics scholar, I learned that Brunk catalogs were more than auction records — they were respected scholarly resources that reflected the latest research in Southern decorative arts. Many important discoveries, particularly in Southern ceramics, first came to light through the Brunk salesroom,” said Rob Hunter, editor emeritus, Ceramics in America. “Bob Brunk understood that the appreciation of historic objects extended beyond the marketplace. His commitment to scholarship was evident not only through Brunk Auctions, but also in his support of lectures and educational programs at MESDA and Colonial Williamsburg, including the annual Ceramics Conference. Through these efforts, he helped foster a community united by a shared passion for the objects that connect us to the past.”
“Today, that commitment continues through his son, Andrew, and daughter-in-law, Lauren, whose dedication to scholarship and preservation ensures that Bob Brunk’s influence and generosity will endure for generations to come,” Hunter added.
“Bob Brunk was an astute scholar, a keen businessman and a pioneer in the field of early Southern decorative arts. When few people paid attention to places like Western North Carolina, Bob rolled up his sleeves, studied objects carefully and wrote a book about them. He led the way in regional auction houses bringing great objects to market year after year, one great discovery after another,” said Robert Leath, executive director of the Edenton Historical Commission. “He was also had a sense of humor. Talking about his early career as a sculptor, he told me one of the funniest stories I ever heard: One day, driving around the mountain countryside, he spotted one of his earliest wooden sculptures sitting in the window of a country store. He stopped, walked in to look at it and while he was remembering exactly when he made it, the salesman behind the counter spoke out with bit of a mountain twang, ‘Can you believe that was carved by a 14-year-old blind girl!’ Bob didn’t say anything, he just walked out of the store with a smile on his face. Don’t we all wish for the same?”
Bob loved storytelling of all forms and was a noted author. Most recently, he published A Question of Value: Stories from the Life of an Auctioneer (2024). A reflection on the meaning of value, this collection of short stories has received many accolades. A follow-up memoir is forthcoming.
Deanne Levison, who was a longtime antiques dealer, shared that Brunk gave his total commitment to a litany of diverse interests. “He was an ardent and generous advocate of the environment and conservation, an early champion of civil rights and an avid supporter of artists and their arts, particularly those from Western North Carolina. Bob was a furniture maker, a shape-note singer, an engaging storyteller and an auctioneer who valued high standards and ethical interactions with others. He was the author of three books that chronicle many of these interests. The most recent of his publications, A Question of Value: Stories from the Life of an Auctioneer is as entertaining, informative and passionate as Bob was.”
Robert Brunk reading to his children, Ingrid and Andrew.
“Fortunately, another recently completed memoir will continue his story and that of his dedication to Brunk Auctions,” Levison added. “It is a benevolent bequest to Andrew, Lauren, their staff, clients and friends, both past and present. I think Bob is smiling, as usual.”
Brunk’s work has appeared in The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Iowa Review, Ninth Letter, The Michigan Quarterly Review, The Gettysburg Review, Witness, Chautauqua, The North Dakota Quarterly, Salt Hill and other publications. Additionally, he edited two volumes titled May We All Remember Well: A Journal of the History and Cultures of Western North Carolina and his essays were selected as “Notable Essays” for The Best American Essays in 2014 and 2015.
Bob is survived by his brother, Stan Brunk; his former wife, Jan Brunk; his daughter, Ingrid (David Nelson) Brunk, a law professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville; his son, Andrew (Lauren) Brunk, who now owns Brunk Auctions; and six grandchildren: Silas, Emma, Eva, Logan, Ellis and Stella.
In life he was a generous supporter of numerous humanitarian, educational and environmental causes. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to Helpmate in Asheville, Goshen College in Indiana or a charity of one’s choice.
A memorial service will be announced at a future date.
