Bruce Edward McLeod, Jr.

Bruce Edward McLeod, Jr., 90, of Summerlin, Nevada, passed away on June 14, 2024, after a long-lived life of tremendous passion, service and great love for family and friends. He is predeceased by his father, Bruce McLeod, Sr., his mother, Cleola McLeod, and his sisters, Mildred Hilton and Juanita Wynn.

A son of Bennettsville, South Carolina, Bruce was born on September 23, 1933. He attained his primary and secondary education at Marlboro County Training and High School before beginning his collegiate quest, culminating with a Bachelor of Science in General Science from North Carolina A&T in 1958 and a Master's Degree in Education from Boston University in 1973. While in graduate school, he pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Gamma Eta Chapter.

Throughout his master's program, he worked as a counselor to at-risk youth for three summers in New York City, NY. This work foreshadowed a life of commitment to the procurement of education for all who seek it.

An 18-month stint in the United States Army took him to Germany ending in 1956. He returned to the States for his first professional position in the field of education as a science teacher for Huntington High School in Newport News, VA. After seven years in that position, he began working for the U.S. Government, Department of the Army at Fort Eustis, Virginia as an Education Specialist. He went on to become an Education Services Officer and continued to rise steadily in position over the next 30 years. A 20-year span followed with a series of promotions taking him to Germany, Atlanta,GA and Tacoma, WA.

In 1984, his professional ascent led to his appointment as the Director of Education, U.S. Army, Europe GS-15. In that position, he was responsible for providing technical guidance to over 300 civil service professional educators and their 500 personnel for eight undergraduate and graduate colleges and universities throughout Europe, serving 280,000 soldiers.

His professional performance was highly commended and resulted in an appointment to attend the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA as part of the Class of 1987. Attending such a prestigious military training program gave him great pride as he was the first in his career field to be accepted.

Bruce chronicled his life and its treasured relationships in an autobiography he penned in 2004. In it, he recalls his youth and growing up in the segregated South in a matriarchal household. Featured strongly is his love and gratitude for his grandmother, Elizabeth Pegeese Thomas, "Momma," and her sister, Elizabeth Penman "Aunt Sis," as well as the quiet lessons learned from a taciturn yet hard-working father with a 3rd grade education.

In addition to his educational and professional achievements, Bruce coveted his role as a father of five sons whom he co-parented with their mothers, Rose S. Langford and Toni Fry-Walker, from previous unions.

In 1994, Bruce married Betty Ferguson. He retired a few years thereafter and the newlyweds decided to live out their retirement in Summerlin, Nevada. As retirees, he and Betty explored mutual passions for music, learning, travel and political activism.

Bruce was an enormous fan of many forms of music - particularly jazz and salsa. He engaged this passion as a musician himself, having played trumpet in the high school marching band, and sousaphone in the marching band at North Carolina A&T. While Bruce was in high school, his talents with the trumpet and saxophone were regularly heard on the Bennettsville Saturday morning local radio station that broadcasted performances by him and his sisters in their jazz quartet the "Dixie Dukes."

With books, Bruce's idea was to read voraciously and research deeply. He did this for pleasure. He had a personal library of well over 400 books, ranging from history, politics, education, biography and religion. He would fill the texts' margins with challenging thoughts that led to further research and deeper discussions. In 2009, he created a small library of books in a local Nevada barber shop which inspired similar passion projects with his grandchildren.

He and Betty took college classes at University of Nevada, Las Vegas to maintain and extend a command of and an engagement with cultural literacy and political activism. Bruce also furthered his life-long quest for knowledge through extensive travel throughout Europe, Asia and Africa.

Bruce is survived by his wife, Betty McLeod of Alpharetta, GA; children, Bruce McLeod III, of Las Vegas, NV, Damon McLeod of Lancaster, CA, Daryl (Ivonov) McLeod of Upland, CA, Keith McLeod of Bethesda, MD, Machiveni Tigrai of Harlem, NY; grandchildren, Kyle McLeod of San Francisco, CA, Risa Muramatsu and Rina Muramatsu of Tokyo, Japan, Akua McLeod of Pittsburgh, PA, Miles McLeod of Bethesda, MD, Masoud McLeod of Berkeley, CA, Dillon McLeod of Bethesda, MD, Bruce McLeod IV of Las Vegas, NV and Free McLeod of Cambodia.

Bruce enjoyed time with his family where his rich and authoritative voice called forth opportunities to share fond, comical memories or information and ideas which expanded his understanding of the world and inspired other curious minds. He was a lover of chocolate covered nuts, statement cologne and a good pair of wingtip shoes. Well-tailored suits were a wardrobe staple to match his dignified presentation and stature that will be remembered by all who knew and loved him.

The surviving family expresses sincere and deep gratitude to those who cared for Bruce through his seven-year battle with prostate cancer. Any donations made in his name may be done to his favorite charity, Doctors Without Borders.