Bruce Harold Faaland

Bruce Faaland passed away September 23, 2021. A kind and adoring husband, brother, father and grandfather, Bruce was born in Brooklyn, NY in July 1944 at the height of WWII to Halvdan and Mae Faaland. With his father a career Navy doctor, the family lived in many different duty stations around the world giving Bruce a wide scope of friends and experiences. While in Naples, Italy, his family traveled to Norway, their ancestral homeland. Bruce was able to meet relatives and friends of his parent’s as well as see their ancestral homes. This gave him a strong sense of his Norwegian heritage which he treasured throughout his life.

Bruce graduated from Rogers High School in Providence, RI where the family was stationed during his high school years. Upon graduation, he enrolled in Stanford University and earned a B.S in Mathematics, a M.S. and a Ph.D. from the Engineering School. After graduation, he accepted a professorial position at the University of Washington School of Business (now known as the Foster School of Business) in 1971 and quickly rose through the academic ranks earning tenure in just four years in 1975. His research was mostly in manufacturing management, scheduling repetitive construction projects and economic lot size problems. His teaching centered around queueing theory, manufacturing optimization and later statistics. He was a skilled researcher and along with his close friend, Tom Schmitt, and research colleague had his work published in the top journals of his field. He was also highly sought after for consulting projects for Boeing Airplanes, a California vineyard, hospital surgery scheduling optimization, blood bank queueing and storage, restaurant seating optimization and other manufacturing optimization projects. He retired from the Foster School in 2014 after a 43-year career.

Bruce made friends easily and often stopped to talk with total strangers on the street. He loved attending the Seattle Symphony, going to movies, photography, riding his bicycle as well as attending UW football and basketball games (both of which he had had seasons tickets for more than 25 years).

Always active, Bruce loved sports and exercise. Even from a young age he was involved in sports. When he lived in Florida in 6th-7th grades, he played baseball. At his next port of call, Naples, Italy for 8th-9th grade, he played basketball and ran up and down the seven flights of stairs in the apartment house where they lived for exercise. He then returned to the U.S. when his family was stationed in Providence, RI for 10th -12th grades. He continued his basketball playing on the high school team, but also added tennis, practicing with members of the Navy tennis team. When his family went to Guam, he went to Stanford in California where he continued his tennis and played in tournaments around the area with members of the Stanford tennis team. When he accepted the job at UW, he started playing squash with a world ranked athlete who became a very close friend. Bruce took many years of lessons from him becoming one of the top players in the U.S. and nationally ranked.

As he got older and slowed down, he took up cycling as a way to stay fit, but soon discovered his love of the sport. He rode every weekend during nice weather and tried to fit in extra rides during the week. His favorite long rides on weekends were from Queen Anne to Sammamish where his son lives or around Lake Washington. He also did the Seattle to Portland bike race one summer. Nothing came between Bruce and watching the Tour de France. He continued to ride until his illness prevented it.

Bruce is survived by wife Pam Tomaino, his son Nikolai and his wife Liz of Sammamish, his daughter Jennifer Faaland of Seattle, his stepdaughter Nicole Tomaino Allemand and her husband Arn of Boise, ID. He also leaves four grandchildren Eve and Henry Faaland and RJ and Nathan Allemand along with his sister Barbara and her husband Bill Norin of San Diego, CA and his sister-in-law Linda Heartness of San Diego, CA.

To all who knew Bruce, the overriding qualities they mention about Bruce were his kindness, thoughtfulness, as well as his willingness to help those less fortunate. He will be sorely missed.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the American Heart Association.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared on this website for the FAALAND family.