Kenneth V. Lundberg was born August 15, 1923, in Thomaston, Connecticut, the elder son of Victor E. and Esther (Swanson) Lundberg. He was educated in the Thomaston schools, graduating with the class of 1941. He worked for a year in the Thomaston National Bank. In 1942, he enlisted in the Army Air Corp, serving with the 8th Air Force, 25th Bomb Group in England and France as a S/Sgt in Communications.

After leaving the service, Kenneth moved to Chicago, Illinois to attend North Park College, where he met and married Ruth Johnson of Watertown, Massachusetts. After graduating from North Park and then Wheaton College (Illinois), Kenneth continued his education at the University of Wisconsin Madison, earning his PhD in Economics. A call to higher education led the young couple and their growing family to Ellensburg, Washington in 1952, where Ken taught at Central Washington State College, followed by twenty years at Rhode Island College. He was co-founder of the Rhode Island Council on Economic Education and the first Chairman of the Department of Economics and Management. He served as Chairman of the Faculty Council from 1966–1968.

He took early retirement in 1983 and became Assistant to the Superintendent of the East Coast Conference of Evangelical Covenant Church, a position he held until 1990. In 1984, he joined the Quality Movement in Rhode Island, served with many professional and veteran organizations, and became founder and facilitator of the Rhode Island Chapter of the ISO 9000 Roundtable. He retired in 2000 as first holder of the Rhode Island Quality Award.

Ken and Ruth were longtime members of the Riverside Covenant Church in Riverside, Rhode Island and played a part in the building of the church in the 1960s. They were involved with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship for many years, with Ken serving as a faculty advisor both at Central Washington and Rhode Island College and supporting staff members they worked with in both locations. Ken also volunteered his efforts to support the Scandinavian Home for the Aged in Providence, the Cromwell (Connecticut) Children’s Home, the Boston Seamen's Mission, and the Pilgrim Pines Conference Center in W. Swanzey, New Hampshire.

Ken was a storyteller, and a historian by nature. He gathered together as much family lore, pictures, and records as he could get his hands on, and could always be counted on to bring alive the early days of the Lundbergs and Swansons in America. He wrote The Farm: A History of the Nils Swanson Farm in Thomaston, Connecticut (self-published), and collaborated with his cousin Stephen Thomson on Letters from Sweden: The Lundberg Immigration Experience (self-published). He helped his wife, Ruth, research her own family history as well.

Ken Lundberg was preceded in death by his loving wife of 61 years, Ruth Eva Johnson. He is survived by three daughters: Marilyn Melzian of Torrance, California; Janet Hanson (Dave) of Granite Bay, California; Deborah Windes (Ed) of Naperville, Illinois: a son, Eric (Anja) of Münster, Germany; as well as nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

A Memorial Service will be held May 21st at 2:00pm at the Riverside Covenant Church on Rounds Avenue in Riverside, Rhode Island. A burial service will be held on May 22nd at 12:30pm at the Hillside Cemetery in Thomaston, Connecticut, with a reception following at the Thomaston Covenant Church. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, PO Box 7895, Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7895.

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