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Bruce Duffy passed away on February 10, 2022, from brain cancer. He was born on June 9, 1951. At the time of his death, Bruce was living in Bethesda. Bruce grew up in Garrett Park and attended Garrett Park Elementary School, Kensington Jr. High and later transferred from Good Counsel to Walter Johnson. He is survived by his wife, daughters Lily and Kate and stepson Sam. Bruce attended the Class of '69 40-Year Reunion in 2009.
Bruce was an acclaimed novelist who meticulously researched the figures that he explored in his novels. Among his novels were "The World as I Found It", about European philosoper Ludwig Wittgenstein and his friends Bertrand Russell and G.E. Moore as well as "Disaster Was My God" about the French poet Arthur Rimbaud. In 1988, he recieved the prestigous Whiting Award. Author Joyce Carol Oates called "The World As I Found It" "one of the five great fiction novels". He also wrote for Harper's Magazine, Time, and Life.
His Wikipedia entry can be found at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Duffy https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/23975899/bruce-duffy/wall
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John William (Bill) Bowling
I am very sad to hear about Bruce passing. We grew up around the corner from each other and went to each others birthday parties when we were in elementary shool. I remember a great day of fishing with Bruce and his dad on the Potomac when we came home with a couple of dozen fish. We ended the day with a camp out in my tent in our backyard. Bruce had a great sense of humor and was always looking for a chance to display it. Some may consider it irreverent if I explained some of them so I'll keep these experiences to myself for now even though I still get a chuckle when I think of them. It was Bruce who introduced me to a couple of singers that got me involved in my first soul band,"JJ and the Attractions." We lost touch over the years , but I enjoyed catching up with him at one of the reunions. When he introduced me to his wife he explained,"She is a therapist, and is the only one who could keep up with me." Bruce will be missed. May he experience eternal rest.
Bill Bowling
Dorothy Parker
I too am so sad to read about Bruce. My fond memories of him go back to Kensington Junior High - and the fun and silly things he did and said. My condolences to his family and friends.
David Clark
I am deeply saddened to learn that Bruce has passed away. We were very close friends in junior high school & played in a garage band together with Seth Lichtenstein & Wayne Reichardt for a couple of years. As Slayton, Elaine, Bill, & Dorothy have already mentioned, Bruce was a very funny guy & a lot of fun to be with. I regret that we lost touch with each other after high school, but I really enjoyed reuniting with him again at one or more of the reunions.
Whether we realize it or not, we are all influenced by the people we have known & we all influence each other. I think this is particularly true when we are growing up. That is one reason why I am so grateful to have attended high school at WJ with all of my classmates & why I am always excited to speak with or to be with them again.
I'm also grateful that we have this website (& the people who maintain it) so that we can continue to have some form of contact with each other for the remainder of our lives.
It was a blessing to have known Bruce & I know he will be missed by everyone who knew him.
Joe Mullan
Bruce was one of the most unique people I have ever met. We were very good friends throughout WJ and then at MD. I can't possibly touch on the crazy times we had together. That will likely be a netflix series. He was a kind, caring person that many didnt get to know. i will never forget him and i'm so glad we got to talk in those last few months. Rest in peace my friend...you brought much joy to this world....j
David Roberts
I was deeply saddened to learn of Bruce Duffy’s death. By sheer coincidence I am just in the middle of reading his book, Disaster Was My God: A Novel of the Outlaw Life of Arthur Rimbaud. Last month, in attempting to keep up my French, I made my way through Rimbaud’s “Une Saison En Enfer.” And then I recalled that I had an as yet unread copy of Bruce’s Rimbaud novel. Clearly this was the time to finally read it.
When Bruce’s first novel, The World As I Found It, about the philosopher Wittgenstein, came out in 1987 I bought it immediately. But I put off reading it. The truth is, I was jealous. I had had some aspirations myself to write an entertaining novel with intellectual heft. But Bruce was the one who actually did it. And he did it very well indeed, as I discovered when I finally read it in 2009, after a nice chat with Bruce at the 40th Reunion, tall-guy to tall-guy.
I’ll be finishing Disaster Was My God with quite different feelings than when I started.
Elaine Orr
A well done obit for Bruce in the New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/books/bruce-duffy-dead.html
Elaine
Edward Huff
Wow! I didn't know him but I just bought "The World as I found it." Obituaries in New York Times and Washington Post. Wikipedia article. Worth spending some time on.Robin Schatz
I, too, was so sad to read about Bruce's death. I always enjoyed being around Bruce; he was a unique and wonderful man.
Steve Howard
Man oh man. Bruce was such a fun person to be around when we were in Kensington Junior High. He had a great sense of humor. I wish I had been more in contact with him a WJ. Bruce Duffy! What a guy.
steve howard
Dorothy Parker
Hi again. I just got Bruce's book, The World As I Found It, from the Miami Dade Co. Public Library. A "heavy" book - 546 pages of teeny teeny font! Will try to finish it before the max. number of times I can renew it.