Peter J Bruck

Peter Joseph Bruck was born in May 1941 in South Bronx, New York, the son of Peter John Bruck and Mary Bistransin. He was also brought up by his loving Aunt Betty Seldon. He graduated early from Hicksville High School on Long Island and joined the U.S. Army. Using the language skills he picked up from a German-speaking grandparent, Peter served as a Warrant Officer in Berlin as the city split in two.

After six years in the military, he fulfilled a childhood dream by returning to New York and enrolling in the architectural program at the City University of New York (CUNY). With the help of veterans tuition assistance, he earned a joint master’s degree in architecture, construction, and civil engineering from CUNY, Columbia University, and the Pratt Institute.

In 1974, he co-founded Bruck & Franzese, Inc., an architectural and engineering design firm in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Over the next four decades, he led construction projects in 23 states and all five New York boroughs, including the redevelopment of the Nederlander Theater in Times Square. He took particular pride in overseeing the renovation of several large housing projects that benefitted lower-income Bronx communities, and the Isaiah House shelter in East Orange, NJ.

With Elizabeth (Libby) Dollard, they raised their children Andrew and Amanda in Montclair, New Jersey. He strengthened the town’s arts community as a board member of the Whole Theater Company, the Montclair Art Museum, and Dance Compass, and took an active role in their children’s school, serving on the board of Montclair Kimberley Academy. He earned his pilot’s license, taking friends and family for flights in a beloved Cessna 182 that he named “Sunrider.” Was President of Caldwell Airport Pilot Association, and an active Mid-Atlantic Angel Flight transport pilot, and member of the Air Force Auxiliary. When Libby was diagnosed with a melanoma that proved incurable, he poured his love and energy into her treatment and care.

In 2005, he married Beverly Holland Boyle and retired to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He became a volunteer tutor for the Literacy Council, President of The Outer Banks Repeater Association, and served on the First Flight Society Board. He joined the Board of Directors of the First Flight Society and volunteered as a Mid-Atlantic “Angel Flight” transport pilot. With his social personality, he launched a men’s luncheon group, called “The Brothers of the Wobbly Round Table,” where he bragged about his children and shared stories occasionally grounded in truth. He discovered the love of bluegrass music and picked up the banjo, mandolin and ukulele.

With Beverly, they spent winters in Zihuatanejo and traveled the Southeast attending bluegrass festivals. They moved to Florida and finally settled in South Carolina, where he passed away after complications from surgery.

In addition to Beverly, Andrew, and Amanda, he is survived by his siblings William (Bill) Bruck and Donna McMurray, along with Diane Talluto (cousin), Joseph Bubenas (cousin), and two grandchildren, Elizabeth (Libby) and Ben. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Isaiah House, an emergency family shelter in East Orange, New Jersey he helped design.