Neurologist who with his wife founded popular South Hill restaurant dies at 81

A prominent former doctor and owner of the restaurant Luna died of heart failure Thursday night surrounded by his family at his Spokane home of over 40 years.

William Bond, 81, was a Southern boy at heart, said his spouse, Marcia Bond.

“He was always a Southern gentleman. … He had a great quest for knowledge,” Bond said. “He was very much into adventure.”

Marcia Bond married William Bond in 1966 on a hot spring day in her hometown of Wenatchee.

For the first years of their shared life, the Bonds lived in New York City and Los Angeles. They settled in Spokane in 1978, because “well, we really liked it,” Marcia Bond said.

William Bond’s knack for learning started at an early age when he was a child in Memphis, Tennessee, Marcia Bond said. He attended the United States Naval Academy near Annapolis, Maryland, to become a carrier and jet pilot for the U.S. military. Medicine piqued his interest, and he spent most of his career practicing as a neurologist in Spokane, she said.

William Bond supported the arts, even as he continued to practice medicine. In 1986, he formed a fundraising committee that financed a Spokane Symphony concert in Comstock Park.

“We wanted to bring the symphony out to the people, not in a downtown park but in a neighborhood park,” Bond told The Spokesman-Review in September 1986. The tradition continues today, with free symphonic concerts in Spokane’s public parks often at the end of summer.

The couple always loved good wine and food, Marcia Bond said.

In 1992, they opened Luna on South Perry Street after William Bond retired from his neurology practice.

“We decided to do something together,” Marcia Bond said. “We thought, what a happy, wonderful thing to do together. People go out to eat and it’s always a happy experience.”

The goal was to create a restaurant that reflected its community, William Bond told The Spokesman-Review in 2012.

“We didn’t want to be just a café,” William Bond said in 2012. “We wanted to be a part of the neighborhood.”

The popular South Hill spot was a proving ground for several chefs in the region.

In 2015 the Bonds made the hard choice to sell Luna, Marcia Bond said. Giving up the restaurant was tough, but Marcia Bond said they respected the vision of the new owners and felt good passing the torch.

One of the restaurant’s new owners Aaron DeLis told The Spokesman-Review in 2018, “The Bonds were so ahead of their time back in the day. They laid the groundwork, for sure.”

After their retirement, food and wine remained an important part of the Bonds’ time together, Marcia Bond said. With William Bond’s career and raising two children, they had not had much time to travel the world until after the restaurant was sold.

Marcia Bond said they particularly loved Italy, France and Spain because of the culinary scenes there.

They still regularly ate at Luna to support the new owners and reminisce about their restaurant days, Marcia Bond said.

A few years ago, William Bond was diagnosed with heart failure. Up until last week, Marcia Bond said her husband was still going out and socializing.

“He never had any pain, and he did not suffer,” Marcia Bond said. “He was surrounded by family. It was very peaceful.”