Bruce M. Weaver

Bruce Montgomery Weaver, age 68, of Royal Oak, passed away suddenly of natural causes on July 13, 2023. He was a resident of Royal Oak for more than 40 years, a town he truly called home. Everyone who knew Bruce knew that his life with his late wife Rita was the center of his happiness, his world view, his understanding of a lucky life. His three children, Shawn Collick, Lee Collick (Sarah) and Julianna Weaver (Andy) have lost a dependable source of wisdom and love – a reliable true north. Bruce was first and foremost a devoted father whose strong heart and quiet humor steadied the ship that was so profoundly rocked by Rita’s death in 2018. Bruce will be deeply missed by his grandchildren Veronica, Levi, Austin, and Ava; his sisters Susan Schoenfeld, Patricia Weaver Francisco, and Julie Weaver; his lifelong best friend Pete Anderson (Lisa), his nephews Andre Francisco (Cassandra), Jesse LaVercombe, his great niece Harriet, his in-laws Joan and John Sunne, Mary Evans and Phil DeGabriel, Nancy White, and many more beloved family and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents Joseph and Harriet Weaver of Harbor Springs, Michigan. Calm and patient, Bruce would do anything for his family. He loved spending time with his children: attending softball games, band and orchestra concerts, helping with science projects, setting up the Slip n’ Slide, building a replica of Tiger Stadium out of Legos, sharing his love of history, Bruce Springsteen, the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade, and Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant. Born in Detroit on December 18, 1954, Bruce attended Groves High School and earned his BS in Economics from the University of Michigan. A lover of astronomy, an astronaut-at-heart, he was known to get up in the middle of the night on cold evenings to view a celestial event. He recently retired as an Economic Manager for the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget – after 43 years to the day of his original hire. (Discovering this fact, his three kids agreed, pleased him as much as catching the odometer turning over to a significant new milage. He loved numbers, statistics, data, and especially significant data. His nephew remembers Bruce teaching him the intricacies of manual scoring at Tiger Games.) Bruce worked in many capacities as an economist with the State of Michigan. He managed the analysts that compiled, analyzed, and distributed Michigan’s labor market statistics and frequently served as spokesperson to the media and a resource for both information and interpretation to the public. He edited and contributed to the Bureau’s monthly magazine, offering in-depth analysis of employment data across time, place, and occupation. In truth, those who knew him best as a father, grandfather, brother, uncle, nephew, cousin, and friend had virtually no idea what he did in his working life, though his responsibilities mattered deeply to him. He loved his career, worked overtime to ensure accuracy and timeliness of data, and cared about his team. Yet he just didn’t talk about himself. He talked about you, wanted to know your story, your day, your thoughts. You’d never know that he was so well respected for his work, unless you were his sister Susan, who happened to see the commendation plaque from Governor Whitmer on his mantel. Bruce was passionate about human rights. He volunteered for Amnesty International, writing letters to help free prisoners of conscience around the world, and with SORT – Supporters of Regional Transportation – advocating for accessible public busing for the city of Detroit. He was a man of ultimate integrity, soft-spoken but firm in his values, kind, easily charmed by children and the wonders of the world, a life-long learner, a champion of fairness and right action. His sisters called him “The Rock,” and are grateful for having had a lifetime of his irreplaceable company. He was known as “The Wall” in tennis, the sport he most loved to play, from his days on the Groves High School tennis team, teaching tennis at Wequetonsing on Little Traverse Bay in Northern Michigan, and playing fiercely right through the rest of his days. Oh, how he will be missed. Please add your thoughts and memories here on this site. We, who loved him deeply and already miss him greatly, would love to hear more. A visitation will be held from 10:30 am-1:30 pm, Saturday, July 22, Wm. Sullivan & Son Funeral Home, 705 West Eleven Mile Road, Royal Oak. Interment will follow, 2 pm, Oakview Cemetery, 1032 N Main St, Royal Oak. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Wayne State University’s Hilberry Gateway Theatre, where Bruce and Rita held season tickets for more than 30 years. http://giving.wayne.edu/donate/weaver

Bruce M. Weaver

December 18, 1954 - July 13, 2023