Bruce Howard MCGREGOR

1924 - 2021

BRUCE HOWARD McGREGOR 1924 - 2021 Born April 28, 1924 in Toronto, died August 18, 2021, following a brief struggle with the challenges of being 97. Bruce was the second son of Duncan F. and Louise (nee Cooke) McGregor, brother to Bill, Mary Lou, and Ivan. Except for a few short years in London, ON, the family home for 80 years was Glen Stewart Avenue in Toronto. Growing up in the Beach neighbourhood, Bruce attended Malvern Collegiate where he and a young Norman Jewison were in the theatre club - Bruce was the director and playwright, and famously 'taught Norman everything he knew'. Bruce had a creative technical intellect - he graduated from University of Toronto in 1947 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and worked with a number of engineering companies before starting his own company in the late 1950s. Over 30-plus years, Bruce ran an engineering sales business with integrity and passion, building relationships with suppliers across the world and customers who respected his ultimate honesty. In 1959, while on a golfing trip at Gray Rocks in Quebec, Bruce met Pauline Mersel and so began their lives together. They married on April 8, 1961 - the earliest date available that wasn't April Fool's Day and didn't conflict with government year-end! - and celebrated 60 years of marriage in 2021. Their bond was strong and loving, and beautiful to behold. Even in the hospital, Bruce's face would light up to see Pauline, and she sang to him every day there. They had two daughters, Alison and Karen, who grew up in a loving home where there was nothing that Dad couldn't do, fix, or explain. While it's traditional to list accomplishments and highlights - of which there were many - none of these truly capture who Bruce was better than the stories that shine his light over the years. Bruce and Ivan riding their bikes from Toronto to visit Mary Lou at camp in Northern Ontario - they only got to Barrie (!) and took the train home. Bruce fixing the audio-visual system at Malvern, running the daily announcements and DJ'ing the 'tea dances' in the afternoons. The swimming test that stood between Bruce - a lifelong non-swimmer - and his Engineering Degree in 1947 at University of Toronto. With characteristic grit, he found a way. As he always did. Bruce's lifesaving gift of blood, month after month, year after year. After 97 glorious years, his lion-heart just couldn't continue. We'd joked with him that those blood donations had made his heart stronger and younger, but time catches up with the best of hearts eventually. The funeral will be private at Pine Hills Cemetery. When time, energy and COVID permits, we'll celebrate a well-lived life with family and friends. In the interim, raise a glass of Scotch - Lagavulin if you have it - and toast a man who lived his life with the integrity and independent spirits of Scotland and Canada. If you wish to honour Bruce's memory by a donation, please consider the University of Toronto's Engineering Faculty's Innovation and Entrepreneurship initiative to recognize Bruce's passions and creativity. Or make a blood donation to Canadian Blood Services to help save more lives - tell them Bruce sent you.