Distinguished service winners, honorary alumni honored

The East Carolina University Alumni Association has named three graduates as recipients of the annual Distinguished Service Award and also has inducted two individuals as honorary members of the association.

The Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding and uncommon service to the Alumni Association and the university, will be awarded to Michael Bunting of Julian, N.C., the first full-time executive director of the Pirate Club; Franklin Douglas Byrd II of Raleigh, manager of community relations in the Business and Industry Division of the N.C. Department of Commerce; and Frank Ceruzzi of Myrtle beach, S.C., a former president of the Alumni Association.

The new honorary alumni are Phil Kirk of Raleigh, president of the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry, and Tom Glennon of Greenville, chairman and chief executive officer of G.B. Holdings and a principal owner of the Greenville Hilton.

Bunting, who graduated in 1961, was a founding member of the Pirate Club, and the Bunting Track and Field was dedicated in his honor in 1976. He is now retired.

Byrd graduated in 1969 and is a former president of the Pirate Club and member of the Board of Visitors.

Ceruzzi, a 1950 graduate, has been president of the Pirate Club and Alumni chapters in the Myrtle Beach area and is the current South Carolina Pee Dee Chapter leader. He is retired.

All five honorees were recognized at a banquet in Greenville last month.