 As of 2020, Bunker is one of two people to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice.Born the eldest of three children of Jeanie Polhemus ("née" Cobb), whose family descended from early Dutch settlers including the Evertson family and the Schuyler family, and George Raymond Bunker in Yonkers, New York.His father was one of the founders and chairman of the board of National Sugar Refining Company.