Mary Watson-Bruce '82 Celebrates Her Husband's Legacy with an Endowment for Future Historians
When her husband passed away in 2014, Mary Watson-Bruce and her daughter Emily wanted to memorialize his legacy. After all, UC Irvine had been their home for over four decades.
Dickson D. Bruce, who went by Dave, was a professor emeritus of history beloved for his sense of humor, humility and kindness. During his 37-year career at the university, he served as associate dean of graduate studies and director of the program in comparative cultures. Mary, too, was a fixture of the campus community, serving as the university's associate director of geriatric medicine after she earned her Ph.D. in social sciences with a specialization in aging in 1982.
When Dave was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer after he retired, Mary managed a constant flow of friends, running club buddies, and students coming by their University Hills home to say goodbye.
"People really loved him," says Mary. "He was brilliant, and he was caring, and he was generous to a fault with his time." Now, she chooses philanthropic generosity as a way to memorialize him.
Mary established the Dickson Bruce Dissertation Award Endowed Fund with contributions from their family and friends at the time of his passing. Over the past 10 years, Mary has continued growing the fund with annual gifts via IRA charitable rollovers (also known as qualified charitable distributions) — a tax-savvy way to give during her lifetime — and with a bequest intention that will eventually add to the endowment. Each year, a UC Irvine history student receives an award to support their doctoral dissertation research.
Because Mary sometimes traveled with Dave on research trips, she appreciates the importance of visiting a dusty file room in a library basement, putting on white gloves and carefully examining original documents. As a renowned Americanist who specialized in the antebellum South, Dave incorporated cultural anthropology and social history into his work, shedding light on often ignored or misunderstood parts of American history — something Mary fears is growing increasingly rare.
"There are just too few people and organizations who care about history and making sure it doesn't repeat itself," Mary says.
Dave and Mary's relationship even offers insight into American history. They met as students at the University of Texas in 1965 at a time when she, a black woman, and he, a white man, were forbidden by law to marry in the state. The Supreme Court's landmark decision enshrining the right to interracial marriage didn't come until 1967, just as Dave left for graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania.
When the couple came to UC Irvine in 1971 as young newlyweds, they did not expect to stay long. "We thought we would be academic gypsies," Mary recalls. But the campus, nestled amid farmland with rows of asparagus flowering in the sun, turned out to be uniquely alluring. As the decades passed and the city grew around them, anytime anyone asked Dave why he had chosen to stay at UC Irvine, he would answer, "fresh asparagus."
Today, Mary keeps busy with her lifelong friends in University Hills, singing with the Orange County Women's Chorus, which she helped found, traveling the world, and watching her grandchildren grow up. She also enjoys keeping up with the scholars who have received the Dickson Bruce Dissertation Award.
"I have letters from them and they're all over the place, launching startups, teaching as professors, studying language, and doing really incredible research all over the country," she says proudly.
Although these historians never met Dave personally, his legacy lives on through their work.
If you are interested in leaving a personal legacy or honoring the memory or impact of your loved one, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Office of Planned Giving at (949) 824-8134 or [email protected].
