Bruce Andrew Wright

Bruce Andrew Wright was born to Charlotte Susan Salmon Wright and Lowell Eugene Wright on November 15, 1954, while they were living on Tennis Avenue in Ambler, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia. Bruce was the youngest of four siblings, Alan, 12 years older than Bruce, Eric, 9 years older and Charlotte Susan, 5 years older.

As the youngest, Bruce was very close to his mother and less close to his older siblings. He attended Spring House Elementary School in Lower Gwynedd, PA. and beginning at age eight went to summer sessions at Camp Dark Waters, a Quaker summer camp in New Jersey where both Eric and Susan were counselors for several summers. He took on the nickname "Polo" at camp, because he was one of two campers named Bruce in his cabin.

Bruce accompanied his parents on a volunteer assignment for the American Friends Service Committee in Baroda, India from about 1966 to 1969, when he was 11-14 years of age. He was enrolled in Woodstock School, a boarding school in the Himalayas, for much of that time, and that experience involved a good deal of loneliness and isolation for him.

Bruce attended Westtown School (the Quaker boarding school outside Philadelphia which his siblings had also attended) from the Fall of 1969 until graduation in the Spring of 1972. While at Westtown he enjoyed listening to All Things Considered, the public radio show that first aired during his junior year, and learned Transcendental Meditation; he also developed a striking baritone singing voice, performing with the school choir and in musical theater under the leadership of the gifted Clarence Moore. This led to an aspiration to pursue opera and enrollment at Oberlin Conservatory during the two years he attended Oberlin College, from 1972-1974. He left Oberlin after two years and returned to Madison, Wisconsin, staying briefly with his parents and then moving into a shared apartment with other gay men. He continued his undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin, graduating in 1976 in English and linguistics.

It may have been at Westtown that Bruce’s identity as a gay man began to take shape, but it was certainly clear by the time he was at the University of Wisconsin.

After graduating in English and linguistics at the University of Wisconsin, Bruce lived briefly in Boston before moving with his partner Bill Holslag to Los Angeles, where Bruce became an editor at Flowers&, a trade journal for florists. Bruce and Bill lived in a bungalow cottage in the canyons of Northwest Los Angeles. As an assistant editor for Flowers&, Bruce wrote a fictional series for the magazine about a florist and his assistant, weaving in details about the business of selling flowers. He also travelled regularly to Venice and other sites of conferences keeping up with evolving trends in the floral industry. Bruce was an editor and photographer for Flowers& for 33 years, between 1982 and 2018 with a three-year hiatus as the news editor for The Advocate, widely regarded as the nation’s premier LGBTQ newsmagazine. He also did freelance editing work. Bruce made many dear friends during his career at Flowers& and was widely recognized for his work in the industry.

Bruce and Bill Holslag eventually parted company and Bruce left their house in the canyon and purchased a four-unit apartment building, which proved to be a gracious home as well as providing welcome income. Bruce was active in Nichiren Buddhism for a time, and maintained a practice of chanting at home. He returned to singing after a long absence, and enjoyed performing with a local community opera company.

During these years in Los Angeles Bruce remained quite close to his sister Susan and her partner Stephanie Morris in Santa Fe. Bruce provided sperm for their two daughters, Rose and Lex. He took great pleasure in his unique father-uncle role, took part in holiday celebrations and family vacations and visited frequently in Santa Fe.

Bruce met Nathan Clum, a high school literature teacher, on June 18, 2010. They fell in love and were engaged two months later. They were married on September 12, 2014, and have had twelve years together. In recent years they added their beloved dog Henry to their family.

Bruce was first diagnosed with cancer of the prostate in August 2021, received treatment for this but later had metastases in his bones. He was able to attend his 50th high school reunion at Westtown in May of 2022, flying east and then driving up to Westtown from Washington, DC with his friend Anna Forbes. Back home from the reunion, on May 31 he went to the emergency room with excruciating pain in his legs, and was admitted to the hospital. Over the course of the summer, he was tranferred to rehab, to a nursing home, and to assisted living with hospice care, never returning home again. Nathan was visiting every day and at his side through this whole ordeal.

Bruce was very clear that he did not want to prolong his life if his quality of life could not be maintained. On August 6 he wrote to friends:  "The only downside to having such a wide network of loving friends—way beyond what I could ever have expected—is that I can never hope to let each and every one of you know how much I appreciate you, how deeply I drink in your warm words, weighted with the history of all that we share over years, often decades, of mutual affection. All of you are why I feel so comfortable and grateful while taking leave of this world, where I have been so blessed with love and rich companionship." Bruce died on September 16, 2022.