George Michael “Mike” Gunason, 70, died Feb. 26, 2014, in Pittsboro, N.C., after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. George was born on Aug. 21, 1943, in Indianapolis, to Janice Arminta and George Harold Gunason and called Indianapolis home for most of his life. He graduated from North Central High School and attended Indiana’s Wabash College on a Lilly scholarship. He loved prowling the woodlands around his home in Carmel, he was an explorer, photographer, civil rights activist, digital pioneer and loving husband and friend. He was the Director of Planning for Indiana’s first drug and alcohol abuse treatment program and founded YouthWorks, a youth employment program. He built a Polymorphic 88 computer from a kit and later started MicroAge stores, one of the first retail computer outlets in Indianapolis. He was a photographer for Indianapolis magazines, international resorts, and for a book to commemorate Kindertransport, a rescue effort that brought thousands of Jewish children to Great Britain in the months prior to the Second World War. He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Susan Wisely of Pittsboro, N.C.; and two sisters, Sharon Gunason Pottinger of Scotland and Molly Gunason of Middletown, Ind.
