Quite accidentally I came across this information today and so looked up the obituary.
I met Bill when he came to Oceanview School in San Diego to teach my Second Grade class about helicopters. He came with a pilot who was going to the same ward as me and said he would be happy to come to my class. The rest is history, Bill told me later he fell in love at first sight. It was a very fun time in my life sailing, sunbathing at the beach, going to dinner and dances. He was away at sea part of the time and later in my life sent me an email and told me I may have saved his life. He was being true to me while out to sea and friends of his would visit prostitutes and later one of them died from disease picked up on one of those visits. He felt he had escaped that by his fidelity to me.
We almost married, but broke up at the beginning of the summer in 1959, the differences in our religious beliefs was too much. He went to Harvard and I went to BYU for the summer. I met Richard when I came back and we married 6 weeks later.
Bill visited me at our Choice Mortgage Office in 1990 and told me he was about to marry his third wife and how lucky I was to have escaped marriage with him. He called me often at midnight when his third marriage was on the blitz and Richard had passed away, always saying he was coming to visit me sometime, said he was getting a divorce. I think he got dementia after that as he was often confused in his telephone calls. Somehow he had retained friendships with his ex-wives as he had six children, three boys from the first, one daughter from the second, and a son and daughter from the last. He had been successful and a millionaire at one time but lost it all, I understand, though his first two wives were very rich and his last was a chiropractor doing well. He was a very charismatic person with lots of friends. I enjoyed learning how to sail and always enjoyed being with him.
William Urban Bruch
On October 30, 2019 Bill Bruch (Jr.) passed away at the age of 86 in Port Orchard, WA.
Born on December 3, 1932 to William U. Bruch Sr. and Clarice Young Bruch, Bill grew up in Bayport Long Island, NY, where he began his love of sailing. After earning a chemical engineering degree from Columbia, Bill went on to graduate from the US Navy OCS & Flight Schools, serving as a helicopter pilot on the USS Philippine Sea. Military service took him to San Diego, where he started his real estate career by flying clients up to Apple Valley in the late 50's. The east coast drew him back & in '61 he graduated with his MBA from Harvard Business School. Business brought him to Seattle in the mid-60's & Bill found where he wanted to spend the rest of his life- a place where he could both ski and sail in the same day. After a short stint in hydraulic sales, Bill returned to real estate at John L. Scott. At Scott he was a top salesman 1968-74, Bellevue Branch Manager 1974-76, and President 1976-80, expanding the company and helping to steer development of many Bellevue/Eastside neighborhoods. He was one of the founding directors of the NW Multiple Listing Service, a real estate instructor at Bellevue Community College for 17 years, and the author of a manual for agents and brokers using the Hewlett Packard HP 12-C.
After his years at Scott, Bill ran his own real estate & mortgage companies in the 1980's, including Bruch and Vedrich Better Homes & Gardens. His final years in real estate were primarily with Windermere, and finally Realty Executives in Bellevue. Bill, an avid sailor, owner of many Thistles, a Tartan 41, and the first J 36 on Puget Sound. He sailed in 14 Swiftsure races, 4 Victoria-Maui races, and countless others on both coasts, and completed a trans-Atlantic crossing.
A lifelong student of Christian Science, he was a long-time member of the First Church of Christ Scientist Mercer Island, where he served in many roles. Through his faith he continued to grow in wisdom and kindness, understanding that there is no death.
Bill is survived by his younger sister, Anne Miexsell of Sudbury, MA, his wife Laura Balent of Bellevue, WA, as well as his children: William U. Bruch III of La Connor, WA; Robert S. Bruch of Long Beach, CA; James C. Bruch of Kihei, HI; Sarah A. DeBoer (Bruch) of Woodinville, WA; Maxwell B. Bruch of St. Louis, MO; Clarice B. Bruch currently studying in Glasgow, Scotland; & two grandsons: Luke DeBoer and Benjamin Bruch.
Bill's Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, November 22,
from 3-5 pm at the Mercer Island
Community & Event Center,
8236 SE 24th St, Mercer Island, Wa.
