Lewis William Bushnell, a filmmaker, writer and educator who was born in Melrose and spent his last decades in Cambridge, died on October 19, 2026 at The Commons in Lincoln. He was 92.
He was born on June 3, 1934, the son of Marshall Ernest and Rena (Ballam) Bushnell, grew up in Lexington through the Depression and the war, and earned the rank of Eagle Scout. He graduated from Northeastern in 1957, was commissioned through ROTC in the Army Signal Corps and served as assistant director on helicopter training films at the Army Pictorial Center in Long Island City. That led to Rena Productions in New York and educational films on Islam, gold mining in Colombia, farming in Nepal, Cold War Berlin and the early digital industry, including IBM, with one assignment taking him around the world on 28 flights. He lived about a decade in London and Rome and spoke Italian.
In New York he met Karen Lee Davis, a nurse moving into publishing. They married on May 7, 1983 and moved to Cambridge, where he wrote for Digital Equipment Corporation’s employee paper and later served as associate director of the Cambridge Historical Society while Karen was its executive director. A lifelong birder, photographer and gardener, he volunteered in the Butterfly Garden and other visitor roles at Mass Audubon, which made him a lifetime member. Karen died on October 21, 2023.
His brother, Kendrick George Bushnell, and his sister-in-law Marcia died before him. He leaves his niece, Catherine Bowden; his nephews, Robert and Steven Bushnell; and Karen’s brother, Michael Davis, and his wife Leslie.
Visiting hours are Saturday, November 7 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Keefe Funeral Home, 2175 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge. The family suggests donations to the Friends of the Cambridge Public Library, High Spirit Community Farm or Mass Audubon.
Compiled from information published by Keefe Funeral Home. Photograph courtesy of the family via Keefe Funeral Home. This is our own summary, not the family’s obituary; read the full obituary and leave a condolence at the funeral home’s page on Legacy.com. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.
