George Lawrence Budd Jr.

He was born in Queens, New York in 1943 to George and Elizabeth Budd.“Buddy” grew up with his two brothers, Joseph and Michael, in and around New York City. He was always eager to create permutations of stops and changeovers that would allow him to see as much of the city as possible on a single subway token.

While he stopped at every station, his favorite was at 86th Street, the home of Regis High School. He graduated from Regis in 1960 and credited it for instilling in him a wide-ranging intellectual curiosity that kept him asking questions his whole life.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics from New York University in 1964 and a master’s degree in Actuarial Science from Northeastern University in 1967.

He first met Anita when they both worked as actuaries together, but the two fell in love through long conversations on their shared 7-Train rides back to Queens. They were married in 1982.

George was a devoted and generous father to his sons, George III, Christopher, Joseph, and John. He used his career as an actuary and computer engineer to provide them with the opportunities to chase their own intellectual curiosities and passions. By the example he set, he instilled in them a commitment to fairness and equity and a love of humanity in all its forms.

George only discovered his true calling later in life, however, when he became Grandpa/Bo to his six grandchildren, Lily, Grace, Hannah, Olivia, Sam, and George IV. His fondest memories involved hosting all of his grandchildren, helping teach them to read, and introducing them to old Disney movies.

He moved to North Carolina in 2016 and joined Macedonia United Methodist Church soon thereafter. The church and its members became a second family to George, providing him and Anita with prayers, companionship, and an infinite supply of baked goods following his cancer diagnosis in 2023. George sought treatment for the cancer not necessarily to be healed, but so that he might be able to return to at least some of the church’s service opportunities that he had loved.

A visitation and funeral will be held at the church, 2700 Jones Franklin Road, Cary, NC 27518 on Friday, June 21, 2024 with the visitation starting at 1:00 and funeral starting at 2:00. In lieu of gifts or flowers, please make a donation to Macedonia United Methodist Church via the church’s website https://www.macedoniaumc.org/ where you can select that the funds be given to the “Memorials-General Budget”. The family will use all gifts to create an endowment for George’s favorite volunteering opportunity, the Swift Creek Elementary School reading program.

If you would like to leave a favorite memory/story of George or a message of condolence to his family, you may do so below within "Add a Memory".