Bruce E. Beagley Jr., a longtime resident of Stamford, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, on Oct. 12, 2017. He was two weeks shy of his 101st birthday.
Bruce Beagley, 101, died on Oct. 12. A private service will be held in the spring.
Raised in a small town in Indiana, Bruce enrolled in the University of Indiana in 1938, and signed up for Naval R.O.T.C to help with tuition. In the summer of 1941, anticipating the coming conflict and needing officers, the Navy pulled him out of school and commissioned him.
While temporarily assigned to the 1st Naval District in Boston as Mine Disposal Officer, he met the love of his life, Carol May Kulp. They were married in July 1942, a marriage that would span sixty years.
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— an obituary from Edward Lawrence Funeral Home
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For the duration of the war, he served as executive officer on the U.S.S. Maumee, a tanker tasked with refueling naval ships accompanying the convoys bringing supplies to Europe and North Africa. At the war’s end, he was in San Francisco waiting to take command of his own ship being readied for the invasion of Japan.
After the war, he finished his undergraduate degree at Boston University and earned an MBA at Wharton. In 1948 he joined Merrill Lynch as an account executive in the Stamford office, where he stayed until retirement in 1984.
Bruce was always active in civic affairs, and served on numerous boards for local charities and civic organizations. He was a member of the Stamford Rotary Club, and served a term as president. He was a Boy Scout leader, and president of the Willard-Hoyt PTA.
He had a passion for golf, and was a charter member of the Country Club of Darien, and a member of the Mid-Ocean Club in Bermuda. His putting skills are legendary.
Bruce was preceded in death by his loving wife Carol in 2002. He is survived by his sister Nancy Roache of Florence, Ky., his three children: Bruce Beagley III and his wife Kathy of Scituate, Mass., Wally Beagley and his wife Gwyneth of Alma, Mich., and Sue Beagley of Norwalk; five grandchildren: Nat Beagley of Rockville, Md., Douglas Beagley of Hinesburg, Vt., Janet Beagley of Olympia Wash., Tad Beagley of Marshfield, Mass. and Maggie Beagley of Cohasset, Mass., two step-grandchildren: Scott Wrede of Falmouth, Mass. and Kristen Regan of Hanover Mass.; and six great-grandchildren: Torin, Siri, Jaemin, Ezra, Livia, and Jake.
He will be remembered as being very happy with his life and generous to family and friends.
A private memorial service will be held sometime next spring.