Samuel Bruce Copeland Jr.

Samuel Bruce Copeland Jr.

Samuel Bruce Copeland Jr. died peacefully at home at Lake Park Retirement Center in Oakland, California, on Thursday, October 28, 2010, he was 85.

Born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on June 29, 1925, he entered Oberlin College in Ohio, in 1943, where he joined a Naval V12 Unit. He completed his BA at Muskingum College in Ohio, in 1947. His life insurance career began in sales and estate planning in Walnut Creek and Sacramento, California. He held senior executive positions in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Chicago, Illinois, where he later worked in real estate. In Charleston, West Virginia, and Charlottesville, Virginia, he was an independent financial planner and business consultant. In 2004, he and his wife, Carol, retired to her hometown, Berkeley, California.

Bruce was a passionate advocate for social justice, including equality for women and minorities in the workplace. Visionary and practical, and a self-described agent of change, he was excited by the challenge of finding and funding workable solutions to systemic problems. He offered his leadership and financial expertise to many innovative initiatives with professional, community and church groups, including low-income housing, housing for the disabled and those with AIDS, and services for the homeless.

A Charlottesville resident from 1996 until 2004, he was an active board member at the Charlottesville Senior Center from 1999 until 2003. He was one of the founding members of the African-American Teaching Fellows program of Charlottesville/Abermarle. He also loved playing tennis at the Boars Head Sports Club.

Family, friends, and clients appreciated his creative and effective approaches to financial planning.

Loving and supportive to his family, Bruce is remembered for his generosity, optimism and sense of humor, especially his puns and poems for family occasions. He loved tennis and jazz, and had a wide-ranging curiosity about the world and its people.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Carol Coates Copeland; daughters, Sue Copeland Jones and Nick of Oberlin, Ohio, Janet Copeland and Tom Carney of Coral Gables, Florida, and Margaret Copeland of Berkeley, California; a son Tom Copeland and Diane of St. Paul, Minnesota; a brother William C. Copeland and Lotte of Tucson, Arizona; five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his parents Samuel Bruce and Margaret Wilson Copeland; a sister, Jean Copeland Basnett; and a brother, John W. Copeland.

A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Sunday, November 21, 2010, at First Congregational Church of Berkeley (FCCB), 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94701.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to FCCB or to Solar Richmond, 2730 Maine Avenue, Richmond, CA 94804. www.solarrichmond.net


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.