Erik Michel Bullen

Erik Michel Bullen departed the physical world on March 16, 2026. He was born on April 16, 1972 in Bremen, Germany. A fraternal twin to his first best friend, Dirk, Erik was a surprise bonus baby to his parents, who til the moment he was born were only expecting one baby. Erik lived in Bremen until the family moved to Bavaria, and later to the United States, where they lived in Minnesota before settling in Leesburg, Virginia.

Erik loved to read, and would bring a pile of books with him everywhere he went. He loved visiting Hohenfelde on the North Sea with his family, and would return there time and again. A natural athlete, Erik excelled at tennis and football, and was an absolute daredevil on the ski slopes where he loved to ski with his aunt and uncle.

After graduating from Loudon County High School in 1991, Erik attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he earned a degree in Business. It was at William and Mary that he met Lee Scruggs, who hired Erik to work at his company College and University Computers, where he assembled computers and got into shenanigans with Lee and Tinsley. Lee started as his boss but became his best friend, and Erik loved returning to W&M to celebrate Homecoming with Pam, Lee, and the rest of the W&M community.

After graduating from college, Erik moved to northern Virginia and started work as a programmer at Bell Atlantic. It was there that he met the love of his life, Jen, in 1997. He talked about first noticing Jen at the office as her head seemed to float over the cubicles and they became fast friends. They were those work friends that everyone but the two of them could see the connection they had. Finally, the following year, when they were both working at NMP in Amsterdam, they realized that they were actually madly in love with each other, and the rest is history; they married in 2004. Erik and Jen lived together in Amsterdam, and then Boston, before settling down in Hull in a beautiful seaside home where they would watch the sunset together.

Erik was an accomplished professional, excelling as a program manager and business leader, eventually moving from consulting into the start-up world. Erik gave of his time freely as a mentor to those in the start-up community. However, his proudest professional achievement has to be his most recent - as Chief Operating Officer of Unravel Healthcare, an organization which was working to create better childbirth outcomes. Erik loved giving back; he built on his athleticism as a cyclist in the Pan-Mass Challenge, an annual cycling event that since 1980 has raised more than a billion dollars for cancer care and research.

Even more than his professional or personal accomplishments, Erik was proud to be a father to Leo. Erik and Leo loved to have adventures together, to learn about science (they’d watch Mark Rober do experiments), to watch action movies together, and to eat cookies, chocolate and burgers together. Erik and Leo could spend hours at the bookstore, both driven by an insatiable drive to learn. Erik was so proud of Leo, and nothing brought him more joy than watching his child grow into a wonderful human.

Erik leaves his wife and love of his life, Jenifer Hartnett-Bullen, and his son, Leo Forrest Bullen, of Hull. Erik is pre-deceased by his father, Richard Clark Bullen, and leaves his mother, Meike L. Bullen (Backehkoehler), of Bremen, Germany. He leaves his twin brother Dirk Bullen (Sonja) of Bremen, Germany; cousin Alex Westphal (Stella) of Hong Kong; brother Nick Bullen (Natalie) of Oxnard, CA; and brother John Bullen of Little Rock, AR; he was pre-deceased by his eldest brother Richard Bullen. Erik also leaves brother-in-law Chris Hartnett (Angela Fetzer) of Pepperell, MA; sisters-in-law Emily Norman (Mark) of Pembroke, MA; and Cathleen Hartnett of West Roxbury, MA. He leaves nephews Liam, Patrick, and Brendan Norman; Noah and Aron Bullen; Brian Bullen (Toni) and his great-nephew and godson Grayson and great-niece Mila. He also leaves nieces Sheila Homeyer and Lisa Mailes, and was predeceased by his nephew Richard Bullen.

A celebration of Erik’s beautiful life will be held on Saturday, April 18, 2026 at 10:00 AM at House of Prayer Lutheran Church in Hingham, MA, followed by a reception. A further celebration will be held at a later date in Germany. Erik would be delighted if - in lieu of flowers - you would consider supporting one of two causes that are so dear to him: the Pan-Mass Challenge (https://profile.pmc.org/EB0063) or the Unravel Healthcare Alliance (https://www.unravelhealthcare.com/unravel-healthcare-alliance).