January 30,1957-August 7 2010
Passed away suddenly at age 53 with his wife at his side following a brief illness in Victoria. Bruce was predeceased by his father, Douglas Robert Grimes. He is survived and deeply missed by his wife, Debbie (nee Hay); mother, Elizabeth; brothers, Michael (Ruth, children, Caroline, James and Sara), Doug (Kelly, children Owen and Georgia); sister, Wendy Krovats (Jim, children, Julia and Nathan); mother-in-law Kareen Hay; brothers-in-law, Phil (Deanna, children, Erin (Russ) and Michael), David (Lisa, children, Christopher and Julie) and Darren (children, Brett Brock and Brandon); extended family and many loving friends.
Bruce was born in Ottawa, raised in Winnipeg and graduated from Dakota Collegiate (1975), University of Manitoba (B. Comm,1979) and Queen’s University (MBA 1987). Bruce was a skilled hockey player growing up, loved to downhill ski (on straight GS boards only!) and was a long time member of the Winnipeg Rowing Club. It was at the WRC in the summer of 1983 that he met Deb and began a partnership that would last 27 years. Bruce developed a love of travel early on, spending 2 years “bumming around Europe”. This love was shared by Deb and they enjoyed their many travels together. They adopted a series of pets over the years who were in need of another home.
Alternately crabby and charming his big laugh and passion for Coors Light will be missed by all who knew him. Bruce never met anyone he couldn’t find something in common to talk about and had a habit of befriending complete strangers. “Boopie” enjoyed spending time with friends and family, especially young ones, his nieces, nephews and his God-daughter, Laura Goodwin.
In 2003 Bruce and Deb moved to Victoria. He maintained ties to Winnipeg via regular summer trips back to the simple cottage that he and Deb built themselves on Channel Island, Lake of the Woods. Their most recent trip in July 2010 gave him the chance to connect with family and friends one last time. Bruce had a varied career excelling at many things, including Great West Life in Winnipeg, in Victoria with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and most recently with Access Panel Solutions.
The family would like to extend their thanks and gratitude to the Cancer Care and Victoria General Hospital Emergency doctors and staff for their care and concern for Bruce.
A celebration of Bruce’s life will be held in MCCALL BROS. FLORAL CHAPEL, Johnson and Vancouver Streets, Victoria Tuesday, August 17th 2010 from 2-5 pm. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society or to a charity of your choice.
22 Responses
Dear Debb and Grimes family
Please accept my deepest condolences on the passing of Bruce. Bruce and I were friends from University and upon graduation from Commerce we got together to travel to Europe. For both of us it was a life changing event. We landed in London and traveled throughout England, Scotland, Ireland, Paris and finally Portugal. My trip was going to be shorter so we went our separate ways but later learned we just missed each other in Spain. Starting our trip together gave us a great deal of comfort as neither one of us had been overseas before. We lost touch of each other over the years but I am sure Bruce never forgot that time together. I know I did not as Bruce was just a fun guy to be with and frankly kept me in line when judgement was at time lacking. Sadly Bruce has left us to go on another journey but I know he will make the most of it as he did in 1980 with me.
Dear Grimes family please accept my condolences on your loss. I worked with Bruce at Access Panel Solutions and quickly became friends with him. He was a joy to work and brought humor, professionalism and and a great willingness to give the people around him advice on life and careers. I will miss him greatly and his stories. Again please accept my condolences.
Bruce was one of my best friends when I was 3 years old when he and my dad were doing their MBA program. Throughout my childhood our family went to Winnipeg several times and had some great times with Bruce. I moved to Vancouver a few years ago and was fortunately able to meet up with Bruce and Deb in Victoria a couple times. Bruce was truely one of my favourite people and I’m going to miss him. Deb, I’m sending my love and thoughts your way.
To Deb and Family:
I was greatly shocked and saddened to hear of Bruce’s passing…he was a very friendly guy and a lot of fun to have in our MBA class at Queen’s. Although we didn’t know each other well, he was somebody I always remembered with fondness, and I can imagine what a treasure he has been to his family through all these years.
God bless all of you during what must be an incredibly difficult time.
Karim McDaniels
Dear Deb and Family – We at CFIB were all so shocked and saddened to hear of Bruce’s passing. He was a fantastic colleague and was an acknowledged leader among his team members. I always enjoyed spending time with Bruce at our various meetings, and he made a terrific contribution to CFIB.
Our thoughts are with you Deb at this difficult time. Take good care.
Catherine Swift
To Liz, Debbie & their families,
The loss of Bruce is made greater when we and our 3 sons
recall the friendships they developed over those early years in Winnipeg with Bruce, Michael, Wendy and Doug.
Our regrets – Ev and Don Sampson.
Dear Deb,
All of our family’s thoughts are with you. In our few years of having the previlege of knowing both Bruce and you, and also working with Bruce at CFIB, we will miss his ability to capture a room full of people with his colorful remarks and his boisterous laugh. It was so refreshing to find someone who shared the same enthusiasm for economics/politics and to sit with a beer and banter on about how WE would run this country. I will forever miss his one liners.
We’re sending our love during this difficult time.
The McNee’s.
I met Bruce in 1985 at Queen’s University where we were enrolled in the MBA program. Bruce and I were a couple of the old guys in the program and bonded as veterans. Contact over the years has been sporadic and intentions to call often put off. Bruce I will miss you. Deb, we are thinking of you and hope to see you in Winnipeg in September.
Deb and Family,
My condolences to you all. I worked with Bruce for the last year, and enjoyed his sense of humor, his laugh, and his corny jokes. We will miss him greatly, his tirades against the computer and technology in general, his recaps of Coach’s Corner, and general good energy that he brought with him everyday.
Lisa Pera
Dear Deb.
My heart reaches out to you at this difficult time. I have fond memories of Bruce from out time together at Queen’s and homecoming. Bruce was one of the lights that made a time of hard work and intense study a little brighter and certainly more fun, because when we relaxed, Bruce was a big part of that too. The two of you were one of the other ‘married’ couples during our time at Queen’s and I have many fond memories of how that connected us all. When I think back, I see his smile. I haven’t been in touch with Bruce over the years, but know we would have had a great catch up if we had been at a homecoming again and picked up where we last left off. I guess that reunion will have to wait a little longer now.
As a former employee of the insurance industry when he came to school, Bruce directed me on how to navigate making a settlement after I was hit by a car in the summer between first and second year and I’ll never forget his kindness and assistance. I could not have done it without him. I’m sure he knew how much I appreciated it but it was done in the spirit of being part of the family that we all were for those years, and the kind of person that he was.
Please know that I’m thinking of you and sending you supportive energies.
Big Hugs
Sue