Bruce Alan Burney

Brevard - Bruce Burney (68) passed away at his home on August 19, the same date on which his father passed in 2011. Diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2023, Bruce underwent surgery, numerous types of treatment, and made seven trips to the Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke, outlasting his initial prognosis by 10 months. Throughout his cancer journey Bruce remained philosophical, curious, and uncomplaining. He maintained his characteristic sense of humor to the very end.

Born in Jacksonville, FL, the third of three brothers, Bruce grew up in both Jacksonville and Memphis, TN. Although small in stature, he was a tenacious and competitive athlete in both football and little league baseball. At the age of 8 he began to teach himself to play the drums by setting up pillows on his bed to resemble a drum set. Bruce began high school at the Memphis University School and graduated in 1975 from Fernandina Beach High School where he was inspired to become a lifelong reader of literature. He then completed two years of college at the University of FL before pausing for several years to help with a family business, all the while studying music on his own with an eye on resuming his university education in that field.

In 1985 he met and married the love of his life, local teacher Beth Burney, and resumed his education at the University of North Florida, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1987. While at UNF, Bruce found his voice as a gifted writer, submitting two essays and winning both first and second place in a campus creative writing contest. He greatly enjoyed playing guitar in the jazz band at UNF but ultimately decided to keep music as an avocation. He majored in political science and was awarded a full scholarship to pursue a master's degree at GA Tech. The couple moved to Atlanta in 1987 and ended up staying for 29 years and raising their family there. Bruce's love of music and the arts led him to create his own major at GA Tech: Cultural Arts Planning. After graduation he worked at numerous nonprofit organizations in Atlanta: Central Atlanta Progress, Habitat for Humanity, Emory at Oxford College, the Center for Transportation and the Environment, and eventually Trinity Community Ministries where he was the executive director. Throughout these years he remained a disciplined student of music, playing in and around Atlanta in various bands, including Meantime (which performed at the Montreux Atlanta Jazz Festival, among others) and the Atlanta Blues Project.

During the almost three decades that the Burneys lived in Atlanta, Bruce and Beth were members of Haygood United Methodist Church where they played on a co-ed volleyball team and enjoyed watching their two boys play Haygood Hoops. Bruce regularly helped at Haygood's Christmas tree lot and once wrote a poem that was published in the Lenten devotional book. Their sons, Will and Sam, were active participants in the Atlanta Youth Soccer Association, and the Burneys spent many weekends following and supporting AYSA travel teams. Beth and her sister, Amy Snowden-Mather, both taught at Morningside Elementary School, and Bruce developed a strong friendship with his brothers-in-law: artist Jeff Mather and pediatrician, Gray Snowden, who did his residency in Atlanta through Emory. The three of them often went to concerts together while, for several years, the three sibling families lived side by side in the Lake Claire neighborhood. The extended Burney/Snowden/Mather families enjoyed vacationing in St. Augustine every summer, and took frequent trips to NC. In four consecutive summers during the early 2000s, Bruce drove the family across the country and into Canada in a rented RV. Those trips remain among the family's favorite memories.

In 2016, Beth and Bruce, as empty nesters, relocated to the mountains of Western North Carolina where Beth's mother was living. Bruce quickly acclimated to mountain life, reveling in the peace and quiet and natural beauty. In addition to fishing, hiking, stargazing, and biking, he took full advantage of the vibrant local music scene and enjoyed participating in local jam sessions. He eventually took a part-time job as the executive director of the Greenville Jazz Collective, combining his passion for jazz with his background in nonprofit management. In recent years Bruce spent hours a day in his home studio composing and recording complex compositions and teaching himself to play the keyboard. He was also an attentive and devoted son-in-law to Beth's mother who lived nearby, driving her to appointments and entertaining her with his signature sense of humor. No one could make her laugh more than Bruce.

A true "Renaissance Man", Bruce was a gifted writer and musician. He often made up songs to entertain his sons, and made the whole family laugh by changing the words to popular songs to be about the family pets. He wrote poetry (mostly for his wife) and was working on a fantasy novel about a community of little people who lived underground out west. He was a complex philosophical thinker with a critical eye, intense intellectual curiosity, and a passion for human rights - topped off with a wicked sense of humor. He gave his whole heart to his wife and sons who will forever be enriched by his example and his love.

Bruce was preceded in death by his parents, Doris and Bill Burney of Fernandina, FL, his brother, Dallas Burney of Jacksonville, and sister-in-law Amy Snowden-Mather of Atlanta. He is survived by his wife Beth (Brevard, NC), two sons: Will (Brevard) and Sam (Atlanta), brother Hank Burney (Nancy) of Atlanta, brother-in-law Gray Snowden (Ruth) of Richmond, and brother-in-law Jeff Mather of Atlanta. His nieces and nephews all mourn the passing of "Uncle Bruce" who both entertained and inspired them.

A memorial service is being planned on October 26, 2025 at 2 PM at Haygood UMC, 1015 E. Rock Springs Rd. NE., Atlanta, GA 30306

Donations in memory of Bruce Burney can be made to either the Greenville Jazz Collective (4200 E. North St, Ste 8 / Greenville, SC, 29615 / online at GVLJazz.com) or Trinity Community Ministries (21 Leonard State Street / Atlanta, GA 30303 / online at www.tcmatlanta.org).