Bruce was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in suburbs of Cleveland, Utica, NY,
and Philadelphia, PA. He got a BA in physics at Swarthmore College in 1965, then a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Ordained as a Presbyterian minister September 1968, he served a pastorate and an interfaith ministry in Philadelphia and a pastorate in
Mahanoy City, PA then moved into governing body staff service in Ohio, New
York, and New Jersey. He concluded his 45 years of service in the Presbyterian
Church, retiring in 2013 from the head of staff and Transformational Presbyter in Palisades Presbytery. From 1998 to 2003 he also was a
part-time field staff person in the Office on Congregational Transformation for the Presbyterian General Assembly, providing consultation and training in
congregational transformation and leadership of change. In retirement he did part-time pastoral service in small churches without a pastor, as well as providing care for his wife of 42 years, Jean, a director of Christian Education and youth ministry, who died in 2016 after 23 years living with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.
Throughout his ministry and in retirement he was engaged in issues of racial
justice, immigrant rights, environmental justice, and peace-making in communities where he lived and worked.
In 2022 he moved into an independent living apartment at Riverwalk Village at
House of the Good Shepherd in Hackettstown, where he quickly became active with its residents council, first to fill a vacancy in the position of secretary, then a term as president, during which the council formed a Financial Review Committee, which he chairs.
