Addison Yancy Gunter III (“Pete” is a nickname) was born October 20, 1936, in Hammond, Indiana. His father worked at a Cities Service refinery in adjacent East Chicago. A decade later, the family returned to Texas.

He was to graduate from the University of Texas in 1958 (Plan II, honors). In 1960, he graduated (as a Marshall Scholar) with a BA from Cambridge University, and in 1963 garnered his PhD from Yale University. He was the first person to receive a basketball letter in the history of Cambridge University. (The team defeated Oxford.)

Although pursuing a philosophy major throughout, he also maintained a strong interest in literature and the arts.

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Prof. Gunter began teaching at Auburn University (1962-1965) followed by four years at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. In 1969, he became the founding chairperson of the Philosophy Department at (then) North Texas State University. He retired there in 2010.

It is convenient (though a bit misleading) to divide his life into three parts.

1. A deep concern with philosophy resulting in numerous books, articles, and reviews related to process philosophy (notably, but not exclusively, that of the French intuitionist Henri Bergson).
2. An active involvement in environmental issues (primarily those surrounding Southeast Texas’s Big Thicket region). His work was instrumental in the creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve.
3. An effort to bridge the gap between philosophy & ecology/environmentalism. This effort resulted not only in various books & articles, but in the first fully worked out university program in philosophy & the environment (“environmental ethics”).

It is tempting to regard this progression as a Hegelian dialectic. This  must be resisted.

Throughout this period, he has continued to write fiction (including a novel, poetry, & short stories), to edit, to write various historical works, and to compose music (notably a collection of philosophical songs).