Bruce Seymour

Bruce Seymour
09/18/2024
Despite having been in excellent health and having all available inoculations, Bruce H. Seymour, 77, of San Francisco passed from this world on 18 September 2024 following a seven week battle with a Covid infection.
Bruce was born and lived in Indianapolis through his graduation from Shortridge High School in 1964. After his freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania, he transferred to Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was editor-in-chief of The Lawrentian and assistant general manager of the college radio station. Following graduation with a major in political science in 1968, he enlisted in the Air Force, completed officer training at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas, and served as a supply officer at Malmstrom AFB, Great Falls, Montana.
In February 1972, immediately upon receiving an early discharge at the end of the Vietnam War, Bruce left Montana for London and a sixteen month journey around the world. Consistent with his penurious nature, the entire trip cost just over $5000 and began the fulfillment of his desire to see the world, its history, and remarkable features. During his remaining fifty-two years, he would spend twenty-two of them outside the U.S.
In June 1973, Bruce arrived in San Francisco from Japan, and began law school in September at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. During the 1974-75 school year, while carrying a full course load, he also worked eight hours a day for the Veterans Administration. In 1975-76, he applied his earnings from the VA to a year of traveling overland from San Francisco through Mexico, Central, and South America to Tierra del Fuego.
After returning San Francisco, Bruce graduated and was admitted to the California bar in 1977. His interest in international matters brought the award of a fellowship for a two year program leading to a Master of Laws in international trade law from Georgetown University Law Center. After a year in Washington, D.C., his second year was at the Universitat Bielefeld in Bielefeld, Germany. There he developed an affection for Germany and made several lifelong friends.
Having received his L.L.M. in trade law, Bruce returned to San Francisco, where he briefly practiced with his brother before embarking on driving journey around the U.S. to visit the graves and libraries of every president. Once again back in California, he accepted the offer of a law school classmate, Bruce Gilmore, and his wife, Ellen, to become a live-in jack of all trades for their newly purchased seventy year old home in Piedmont, California.
For the next twenty-three years, Bruce dwelled in the Gilmore's in-law apartment, repaired and maintained many facets of the house, and tutored the Gilmore's children, Brian and Emily. Known first as Ugboo, Brian's early pronunciation of Uncle Bruce, and then Uncle Bruce, he became a member of the Gilmore family.
During his years at the Gilmores, Bruce continued his travels, visiting Europe and Germany often, but also other parts of the world. He capitalized on the disintegrating Soviet Union to enter Russia, travel to St. Petersburg, and exit Russia, without a visa. He also continued pursuing his lifelong love of opera and the theater by ushering at many performances in San Francisco.
In 1986, he took the qualifying test for Jeopardy contestants and appeared on the show in 1987, winning four times. Later, he appeared in a tournament of champions in 1988, losing in the quarter finals, and on Super Jeopardy, a one-time summer-long tournament in 1990 involving thirty-six former champions. He won the Super Jeopardy championship prize of $250,000 bringing his total Jeopardy prize money to $305,989, which at the time was the most any contestant had won.
Wisely investing his prize money enabled Bruce to research his interest in the life of Lola Montez, nee Eliza Gilbert, a 19th Century stage performer, confidant of celebrities and royalty, and world traveler. Following Lola's travels around the world in pursuit of that research fulfilled more of Bruce's travel desires. His book, Lola Montez, A Life, was published by Yale University Press in 1996. He continued to write about Lola and communicate with other students of her story for the rest of his life. He also wrote several articles on travel and on opera for various publications. During the summer of 2006, to celebrate his sixtieth year, he bicycled from the Bay Area to Washington D.C., visiting and staying with friends all across the country.
By 2007, Brian and Emily had graduated from college, Bruce and Ellen were remodeling their home, and Bruce decided to move on to the Peace Corps where he was assigned a position in Ukraine. Unfortunately, he developed cataracts and was medically discharged by the Peace Corps about halfway through his assignment. On his return, he moved to San Francisco and worked as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, from which he retired in 2016.
For the rest of his life, Bruce continued to live in his apartment in San Francisco and to travel the world, visiting Germany and Europe for six to eight weeks nearly every year. He traveled to South Africa and neighboring countries, went back to Russia and St. Petersburg for more than a month, and spent six weeks in Japan. Paris, Italy, and England were additional places he spent more than a month at one time. After three years of delays, he was able to complete a three-week voyage to Antarctica, the Falklands, and other nearby islands in February and March 2024. After visiting Antarctica, he traveled through Argentina, which he had seen forty-eight years before, and again to the impressive falls spanning the Argentine Brazilian border at Iguazu. When he was home in San Francisco, he would journey to Castro Valley nearly every weekend to tutor Brian's children in various subjects.
Throughout his life and wherever he traveled, Bruce made many friends with whom he continued to communicate until his death. Although he never married, perhaps disappointing some of his lady friends, he realized that his desire to continue traveling as long he was able, at the lowest cost and with the fewest possible belongings were unsuited to any stable commitment. He was determined to do it his way, and he did until the end.
Bruce is survived by - and his encyclopedic knowledge, quirky humor, generous spirit, and kindness will be remembered with love by - his older brother, James, and his wife, Carol King; his younger sister, Katherine, and her husband, Scott Ward; his family, Bruce, Ellen, Brian, and Emily Gilmore; Brian's wife, Leslie, and their five children; and many, many friends throughout the world. He was predeceased by his parents, Keith Morton Seymour and Mary Ann Hinckley Seymour; and a stillborn older brother, Robert.