Ganie B. Dehart, age 74, of Geneseo, NY, passed away Monday, June 30, 2025, at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY. She was predeceased by her parents, Wayne and Louise Bundy and her brother, Tom Bundy.  She is survived by her husband Larry Gray of Geneseo, siblings Kevin Bundy of Albuquerque, NM, Becky (Glenn) Brown of Walkersville, MD, Phil (Jan) Bundy of Albuquerque, NM, Heidi (Steve) Brown of Albuquerque, NM, together with many nieces and nephews.

Ganie was born October 7, 1950. in Ruston, LA, the daughter of Edward Wayne Bundy and Louise Ganie Lambert Bundy. From the beginning she exhibited a boundless curiosity about the world around her, found beauty everywhere, and was often found buried in a good book.  She grew to love fine music, especially all kinds of vocal music, from the Renaissance to modern times.  When she heard J. S. Bach’s Johannespassion for the first time, its opening passage became her all-time favorite piece, and she listened to the entire work every year at Easter. But she also learned countless wacky songs as a young girl at camp, and those closest to her never knew when they might be subjected to an impromptu performance.

Ganie loved to travel, especially to the United Kingdom and the North Shore of Lake Superior. She and Larry fell in love on a trip in 2022 to Orkney in northern Scotland, where they found that they shared a fascination with lighthouses, bridges, aqueducts, canals, rocky coasts, ferry rides, huge ships, highland cows, puffins, medieval abbeys and cathedrals, ancient ruins and stone circles (as well as with each other).  On the road, she delighted in taking pictures of all sorts of things, finding unexpected humor in traffic signs, hidden beauty in nature, and an unabashed admiration for what she called “engineering marvels”.  Visitors to her Facebook page also know about the beautiful flowers that filled her garden and obscure holidays of Catholic saints. 

Ganie was passionate about genealogy, and her trips often took her to ancestral villages in England, Germany, and other countries, where she discovered numerous church and civil records that helped unlock her family history.  She was also an expert user of resources on the web, such as digitized census records.  Her enthusiasm spilled over into her job as professor at SUNY Geneseo, as she encouraged students in her cross-cultural psychology class to discover their own heritage using online and family resources, individually and expertly guided by her. 

Ganie received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Brigham Young University in 1972, her Master’s Degree in Education of Gifted Children from Johns Hopkins University in 1980, and in 1990, she earned her PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Minnesota. Ganie was a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Psychology at SUNY Geneseo where she started in 1988. She was named the 2015 New York Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching.  And she became the lead author of a hugely popular textbook, Child Development: Its Nature and Course. 

In the mid-1990s Ganie initiated a major longitudinal study of child sibling and friend relationships that lasted more than 25 years. Ganie was very generous in sharing the extensive video files and other data from this study with others, including graduate students at Concordia University in Montreal, who used it for their theses, and she was a co-investigator on the many publications that emanated from her rich data set. She guided the research projects of hundreds of undergraduate students at SUNY Geneseo and provided them with a range of professional opportunities, including presenting at national child development conferences. It is an understatement to say that “Dr. D” was universally beloved by those she mentored. Ganie took great pride in the professional and personal accomplishments of her undergraduate students and kept in contact with many of them following graduation. She will be remembered as gifted, kind, and generous, with high but fair expectations for all who worked closely with her.

Ganie was a member of the Central Presbyterian Church in Geneseo, where she frequently served as lector at the Sunday service. Volunteering was an important part of Ganie’s life. She was often seen helping out at the Geneseo Food Pantry at Central and was a member of the church’s Advocacy and Action Commission.  She loved exploring both the Old and New Testaments, and for twelve years, she taught a weekly youth scripture study class at the local Latter-day Saint church.  In recent years, she was a regular participant in the weekly Bible study group at Central Presbyterian, sometimes substituting for the pastor as discussion leader.

Memorial Services will be held on Saturday, July 26, 2025, at 10 AM at the Central Presbyterian Church, 31 Center St. in Geneseo, with Rev. Laurie Tiberi officiating.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Geneseo/Groveland Food Pantry, 31 Center St., Geneseo, NY 14454.