Gregory Bundy

65, Inglewood

Gregory Bundy, a pastor from South Los Angeles, did what many have done in the last year.

With a few days of vacation, he took a mini-break to Las Vegas with his wife and one of his daughters in early November. When they came back, all three tested positive for the coronavirus. By Nov. 16, he was admitted to a hospital in Moreno Valley.

His wife and daughter recovered, though both were also hospitalized. But Bundy, who suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, died of COVID-19 on Nov. 24, his daughter Shonda Bundy said. He was 65.

“I miss him terribly; he was my best friend,” Shonda said.

His clothes, shoes and Bible are constant reminders of the loss. “Everything is still there,” she said. “I feel like it’s fresh every day.”

Bundy grew up in South L.A. He didn’t graduate from high school, but he found a path in life through his faith, becoming an elder and an assistant pastor at the Greater Page Temple Church of God in Christ in the AdamsNormandie neighborhood. He later received an honorary bachelor’s degree in theology, his daughter said.

“I remember him best for just being a happy guy. He loved the Lord, he loved talking about the Lord, he loved his children,” Shonda said. “He always gave us great advice. He always pushed us.”

Bundy founded Blessed Ministry, a foundation that distributes food, clothing, blankets and personal care items for homeless men, women and children in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

He had once been homeless himself and had empathy for those without a home.

Shonda recalled losing the family home in the late 1990s and spending nearly a year living in a motel room.

“He understood what it was to be homeless,” Shonda said. “That’s why he was so passionate about helping them out.”

Bundy is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, six children and three grandchildren.