Gary S. Dunbar founded a pet memorial and crematory service.

BEGGS -- Gary S. Dunbar, the founder of the Companions Forever Pet Memorial and crematory service, died Tuesday. He was 63.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Moore's Southlawn Funeral Home in Tulsa. Private family services will be held.

Dunbar was born Nov. 12, 1942, in Wyandotte, Kan. He graduated from Muskogee High School and Oklahoma State University with a business degree.

After a career in the health-care industry, he founded Companions Forever in December 1996. The company offers a variety of services, including pet cremation, to owners of pets who have died. Its offices are at 7442 E. 46th St. in Tulsa, and its pet memorial wall, where ashes are scattered, is in northern Okmulgee County.

One of Dunbar's main missions was to prevent animals that are euthanized from being taken to a landfill because Tulsa, like many cities, does not permit pet burials.

Pets are "there for us unconditionally," he told the Tulsa World in 1997. "They deserve this kind of dignity."

Dunbar's daughter, Wendy Dunbar Barnett, who began the company with him and continues with his vision, said even out-of-state people have brought their pets to Companions Forever.

"He touched so many people," she said. "He was the walking saint here for the furry friends.

"He set the standard and started a new tradition for families and pets."

Judy Zinn, a veterinarian with Feline Specialties Veterinary Hospital who worked closely with Dunbar, remarked on the respect he gave pets and their owners.

"You will never meet a more compassionate man," she said. "He was so sympathetic with everyone. Everything was handled with dignity. He gave so much to Tulsa."

Dunbar was a member of the Tulsa Metro Chamber and was active in the Tulsa Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and in animal rescue work.

Besides his daughter, Wendy Dunbar Barnett of Broken Arrow, he is survived by a brother, Warren Kent Dunbar of Tulsa, and two grandchildren.

Friends are making contributions to the Tulsa Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and to StreetCats.