Hard to believe that Bruce has been gone for 4 years.    Flora and I think about him so very often and share memories.    He is gone, but not forgotten, and truly ever loved.  

Bruce would have been 69 years old today.    It is a privilege to get to grow old.   

When Bruce was a postdoc at UCSF in the Jan lab, I was a first year graduate student doing my first rotation in the laboratory of Dr. Zach Hall. Zach sent me to learn some molecular biology in the Jan lab. Molecular biology means cloning genes and was the technique of the that period then. I am trying to remember exactly what I learned from Bruce: it might be nick translation, making radioactive probes for DNA. Not only he showed me how to do it which I used for quite a few years, but he gave one very clear message which I remember for life. He saw that I was not taking notes, and told me: “you should take notes when learning from others. No one will teach you the same thing twice”. It is a simple but important lesson which I try to remind my students when they learn from other students. In fact, I just told one new student yesterday, which is why I searched online for Bruce Tempel, whose name was first written down to me by Zach Hall. I later joined the Jan lab and had more interactions. I also remember we all attending the wedding of Ethan Bier and Kathryn Burton. But the first message and his help stuck in my then young mind. I am very surprised when Lily emailed me about the passing of Bruce and could not believe it. I hope to join the efforts to try to find an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease so tens of millions of patients now (and more than a hundred million expected in 2050) will not pass so young and can live to much older and healthier age: let’s all aim for over a hundred as the new normal. 

Sunday, January 5, 2025

I encountered this obituary online today when asking myself "what ever happened to . . .?"

I knew Bruce at Princeton, but only casually.  (He was the friend of some of my friends.)  Nevertheless, he quite tolerantly allowed me to "couch surf" free in his apartment during part of 1982, when I lost my place in graduate-student housing.  Bruce was proud to be from Washington; I remember one conversation when he explained to me carefully the word "Palouse."

You could not find a more open and generous person in academia (a setting that "selects for" tightly-wound and sometimes self-absorbed folks) than Bruce.  I am sorry that he is gone, but I am happy that he appeared in my life, if only for a few years.

Kevin J. Christiano

What a blessing it is to have found this page. As I pursued my doctorate at just 21 years old, I was so scared to be in a new city, state, and away from family. Bruce not only supervised my doctoral research project but mentored me with kindness and wisdom that deeply impacted both my academic journey and who I am today as a person and professional. I truly don’t believe I would have made it through my program without him and his lab. His belief in his students has echoed through my career, and I now mentor and teach new doctoral students in audiology. I am forever grateful for the privilege of learning from him. 

May his memory continue to be a blessing to all who were fortunate enough to know him.

Thinking of Bruce today on the 3rd anniversary of his death and of all the people who cared about him.    I am so grateful for, and in awe of Flora's kindness to her father as his dementia deepened.   I am sure it was hard for her as the relationship with her father had to change dramatically.   I am still so sad that Bruce didn't get the chance to grow old.   

I love seeing the photos of Bruce, and remembering his warm and caring nature, as well as his important contributions in Science.  I, too, am grateful that he had such loving attention and presence from Sarah and Flora in his final years.  We will always remember him with great fondness and love.

I’ve been thinking all day about Bruce and wishing he had had more time.  I miss being able to say hello and share updates about our families. Sending warm thoughts to Sarah and Flora — Bruce was so fortunate in his last few years to have you two to look over him and make sure he was as independent and happy as possible. 

A favorite memory of Bruce was going to the hardware store with him, which we did together did on a number of our visits. These trips tended to take kind of long, even if we were only going to get one thing, for two reasons. First, the hardware store was very interesting and there were always fascinating tools or contraptions to examine and discuss. Second, Bruce tended to mention things he was thinking about -- often university politics or research issues -- while we were driving to the hardware store. Those discussions would often continue in the parking lot and it would take a while to actually get into the store. I learned a lot from him about how universities  work in the bio-medical sciences, which was usually interestingly different from how things were in my experience of the law and social science world. I wish he were still here to share stories. 

Wow.  Just learned of this.  I was in Quinn's lab at Princeton 1981-1985.  Bruce was smart and TrueBlue.  He set a course and followed it - like an orienteerer.

I was sorry to find this update when searching for Bruce to reconnect after a few years. Bruce helped my family immensely in finding answers behind our hearing loss. He was always a gracious host when we visited the Bloedel Research Center, and called in a few favors to help us get access to some resources in Iowa. Best wishes to his family. 

Two years ago this July we moved Bruce to Bozeman by Medivac in the middle of the pandemic.  He was so much happier here in Bozeman!    The isolation had been hard on him but I could make "window" visits here and he liked the facility and staff better.   I miss being able to tell him all the news about Flora and such.   

Bruce would have been 66 years old today (April 21, 2022).   Too soon gone.   Missing him today and always.  

Missing Bruce this holiday.  For years, we went to Schweitzer skiing nearly every Christmas.  Bruce was the best skier I've ever known.  Many a fun day enjoying the slopes.  He taught Flora how to ski and so enjoyed watching her become proficient.   (He taught her how to swim also.)   I know Bruce was ready to escape the bounds of this life, but miss his gentle smile and ready laugh.   Right up until the end, he was still "Bruce".   

Bruce had had a fall and had been scared by it. It helped him to be snuggled.

I worked with Bruce in the GRECC at the VA Medical Center in Seattle. He was a kind and brilliant scientist. Your loss is a loss for all of us.

Bruce talking with our daughter Clara and her then boyfriend about the possibilities of careers in science and showing them his lab

Feasting outside! Always fun to be outside and just enjoying family.

Bruce talking with nephew Chris Meidinger

Bruce and Flora

Bruce taking a picture of Flora and friends at play

Bruce and Flora visited Bozeman on Thanksgiving 2017 and walked around Montana State University campus..