J. Robert Lunney is a retired American naval officer who served on the SS Meredith Victory, a ship which in 1950 carried 14,000 refugees in the North Korean port of Hungnam to safety from advancing Chinese and North Korean forces.

For his role in the humanitarian mission, he has received an honorary doctorate from Woosuk University in Jeonju and an award of merit from the Korean Veterans' Association in Seoul.

After retiring from the service, Lunney pursued a career as a lawyer in his home state of New York after graduating from Cornell University's School of Law.