Bruce D. Michelsen ’54

Bruce Michelsen died peacefully at home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on June 2, 2023. He came so close to reaching his goal of living to the age of 90.

Bruce was born July 12, 1933 in Stamford, Connecticut to Grace Kenn and Adolph Michelsen. In 1951 he graduated from Stamford High School where he played basketball and baseball, sang in the school choir and danced with a group of young ballroom dancers who twice performed on the Ed Sullivan show. In 1954 he graduated from the Maine Maritime Academy where he played football, basketball and baseball and earned the rank of ensign in the Navy in which he then served for 2 years. In 1960 Bruce graduated from the University of Virginia where he played varsity basketball and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

While at the University of Virginia he met and married Tracy Walden of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. They ended up in Durham, North Carolina where they raised their family and Bruce bought Alarms and Protective Systems company which he ran for 45 years.

Bruce is survived by Brad and Suzanne Michelsen and their children Ty and Elle, Mark and Player Michelsen and their children Graham, Mac and Grace, Leslie and Spence Whitman and their children Byers, Lilly and Spence, his late in life family Betty, Melanie and Mary Poyner York and Charles, Madie and Bennett Setzer, his beloved dog Lucy, friends near and far, his kind and caring Hillcrest Circle neighbors and his wondrous and devoted caretaker Mathew Kiplagat.

A gathering to remember Bruce will be held on Friday. July 7 from 4 until 6 in the afternoon at Hope Valley Country Club where Bruce was a familiar figure and where he won the senior men’s golf championship at the ages of 55 and 56 and again at the age of 80.