Robert Bruce Dickson

Dickson

Robert Bruce Dickson

Robert Bruce Dickson, of Chevy Chase, MD, died peacefully on November 11, 2022 with his wife and daughters by his side. He was 75 years old.



Bruce, as he was known by all, was a loving and devoted husband to his wife of fifty years, Linda Dickson, and an unwaveringly supportive and adoring father to his three daughters, Amanda Dickson, Cameron Dickson (Jan), and Caroline Roberts (John). He delighted in their irreverent humor and warmth. His six grandchildren Calder and Pippa, Clementine and Tallulah, and Shep and Whit, brought him tremendous pleasure.



Bruce was a generous man who lived an exemplary life. He was respected and admired by friends and family for his kind and loving disposition, his integrity, his intelligence,and his valiant bravery. Bruce was always the consummate gentleman. He was a feminist, a fisherman, a true Democrat, and fan of the Green Bay Packers.



Growing up in Northern Wisconsin, Bruce was a top student and member of the debate team. His summers were spent fishing for musky at his family's cottage on Black Lake. Winters included layers of flannel and ice fishing.



In September of 1965, at the age of 18, Bruce hitched a ride from Wisconsin to New York City to join the Class of 1969 at Columbia College, where he embraced his studies and everything about New York City. His college years were also defined by the shutdown of the University by its students and by the many political protests at Columbia.



Upon college graduation, he matriculated at Columbia University Law School (Class of 1973) where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a contributor to the Columbia Law Journal. Bruce's legal career began at Cahill Gordon in New York, where as a young summer associate he worked on the Pentagon Papers trial. He joked that his main role was to carry the senior partner's briefcase.



Bruce spent a semester in the Army Reserves, and when he returned for his second year of law school, he met Lindy, another graduate student at Columbia. They were married after graduation, and spent several years working in Manhattan where they started a family. The young couple moved to Washington, DC where Bruce could remain with that city's office of the same law firm. He eventually joined Paul Hastings, where he spent the majority of his career as an admired and accomplished Partner and litigator, working in the areas of false advertising, pharmaceuticals and consumer protection on the behalf of his clients. Bruce was admitted to the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court, the district court of the District of Columbia, New York, and California.



Bruce always loved spending summer vacations with his family in Cape Porpoise, on the coast of Maine, swimming, eating lobster and finding sand dollars at low tide with his children and then grandchildren. He also loved spending time at his farmhouse in Charlotte, Vermont, where he enjoyed the mountains, cornfields, cows, and Lake Champlain.



In spite of his diagnosis with a neuromuscular disease, diagnosed in his 50s, Bruce remained a resilient, optimistic exemplar of determination and strength of character.



When walking became difficult, he cleverly adopted one of the first Segways in Washington; many may remember seeing him riding it to work downtown on the Metro, on Amtrak to New York, and into courtrooms, theaters and restaurants. He loved traveling and did not let his physical disability hold him back. He took puddle-jumper planes through the Canadian wilderness in search of trout and bass, and explored villages in India. He glided the streets of Delhi weaving his Segway between taxis, bicycles, tuk-tuks and cows. In Varanasi, he was interviewed for an article in the Varanasi Hindustan Times which described him as magical because of the way the Segway allowed him to move with such speed and stature with the slight shift of his weight. Children in small villages who saw him surrounded him with awe and curiosity, and he enjoyed talking to them and demonstrating his Segway tricks.



In more recent years, his disability and its increased limitations resulted in his move to a wheelchair and the need for his retirement from law earlier than he would have liked. His family and friends remained in awe of his resilience, adaptability, courage and good nature to the end.



Mr. Dickson was born on June 24, 1947, the son of Raymond and Betty Dickson.

He is survived by his immediate family as well as his siblings, Thomas, Richard and Jane, and their families.



Bruce's family will celebrate his life at the Renwick Chapel at Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown on Sunday, November 27, 2022. The Dicksons will receive friends at the family home Sunday, November 27 between 3 and 6 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to World Central Kitchen or to the Center for Reproductive Rights.