Dean Bruce Langmuir

Dean Bruce Langmuir, 92, died peacefully at the Rivercrest facility at Newbury Court, in Concord MA on January 9, 2023. Born September 29, 1930, in Portland ME, to Laura D. Langmuir and John D. Langmuir, he was raised in Nashua NH, with his younger brother Donald. He grew up active in the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), which established an early love of nature and outdoor activities, and spent summers at the family cottage on lake Winnipesaukee. He remained active in the AMC most of his life, leading hikes with friends and his wife, Marge. He founded and chaired the Boston chapter of the AMC, and was Councilor of Camps for a number of years. He attended the Putney School, in Putney Vermont, graduating in 1949. Putney instilled a love of folk, contra and square dancing, classical music, working with electronics, and conservation. Bruce loved to share these interests with others. He had a great sense of humor and a big laugh that could light up a room.

Bruce worked as an Electronics Technician in the US Navy from 1952 to 1956. After the Navy, Bruce worked at a number of electronics jobs while earning a BS in Industrial Technology in 1969 from Northeastern University, Boston. 

He began work at Bose Corporation in 1974, and started the environmental testing labs there in 1976. During his 26-year career at Bose, Bruce was on eight committees for national, Canadian and international product safety standards and codes, three of which he chaired. He became known internationally for his contributions to product safety standards of audio and video products, and received numerous national awards. 

Bruce was a kind and caring man, who wanted to leave the world a better place and had a lifelong passion for conservation issues. After his retirement from Bose and starting in 2004 he developed global warming educational materials and presented this material to local science educators in the Sudbury School system. On the building and grounds committee of the First Parish Unitarian Universalist (UU) church of Sudbury, he led all the improvements, additions, and restoration work done to the historic building, making the building more energy efficient, fully accessible, and providing and installing a sound system that enabled hearing services from anywhere in the building. This included assistive hearing devices for those with hearing loss. In 2005 he was appointed to be a UU Ministry for Earth representative for the UUA Massachusetts Bay District, which consisted of fifty-five congregations in the Boston area. 

Bruce was a member of the Sudbury Permanent Building Committee, which he chaired for several years, working on numerous green building projects, including designs for the police and fire stations.

Bruce donated a sound system to the First Parish and also to the Atkinson Public Town swimming pool. For over 25 years, Bruce donated, set up, and ran the sound system at the New England Folk Festival, where he met his wife, Margaret E. Lang, in 1959. From folk, contra, and ballroom dancing; to hiking, backpacking, sailing, and canoeing; to classical music, theatre and ballet, they had much to share. Bruce and Marge had sixty years of happy marriage together, and passed their love of these activities to their two children, Jonathan and Lisa. 

 

Family and friends will gather to honor and remember Bruce for his memorial service on Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 11:00 am in the First Parish of Sudbury, 327 Concord Road, Sudbury, MA.

Donations in his memory may be made to:
First Parish of Sudbury
327 Concord Road
Sudbury, MA   01776
978-443-2043
www.fpsudbury.org