BRUCE E. Edward Bruce An attorney specializing in appellate law, died June 1, 2016 at The Oasis of Grand Oaks at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC. He was 77. The cause was complications following a five-year struggle withAlzheimer''s. Mr. Bruce enjoyed a reputation as a formidable legal mind. For 40 years he practiced law at Covington & Burling, litigating on behalf of high profile clients such as ExxonMobil and Procter & Gamble, often in US Courts of Appeals or the US Supreme Court. Mr. Bruce was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, on November 23, 1938, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. After high school, he attended Yale College and graduated summa cum laude in 1960. He subsequently served for three years in the US Navy, reaching the rank of Lieutenant. He returned to Yale University for his law degree, graduating magna cum laude in 1966. He was a law clerk for Justice Potter Stewart of the US Supreme Court before joining Covington & Burling in 1967. He was appointed Partner in 1973. In 1960, Mr. Bruce married his high school sweetheart, Marnell Higley, a graduate of Julliard and a Broadway singer. The couple settled in Washington, DC, where they raised their two children, remaining married until Marnell''s death in 2010. Ed, as Mr. Bruce preferred to be called, was a patron of the arts in Washington, and he enjoyed many enthusiasms including dancing, singing, opera, and writing tongue-in-cheek songs about US Supreme Court decisions. An avid birder, he traveled as far afield as Africa to add to his "life list'' of bird sightings and was a board member of both the Audubon National Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. He belonged to the Metropolitan Club and the Chevy Chase Club. Mr. Bruce is survived by his son, Anthony, daughter-in-law Collette and their three children, (Mary Charlotte, Summers, and Baker) who live in Washington, DC; and daughter Caroline Macaulay, son-in-law Sean and their two children (Isabel and Honor) who live in Los Angeles, California. A celebration of Ed''s life will be held on the afternoon of June 20, 2016. Please contact the family for details.Mr. Bruce is survived by his son, Anthony, daughter-in-law Collette and their three children, (Mary Charlotte, Summers, and Baker) who live in Washington, DC; and daughter Caroline Macaulay, son-in-law Sean and their two children (Isabel and Honor) who live in Los Angeles, California. A celebration of Ed''s life will be held on the afternoon of June 20, 2016. Please contact the family for details.
Published in The Washington Post on June 5, 2016
