Wendy Diliberti
Bruce was born and raised in Montana, graduating from Laurel High School, where he won many awards for debate and extemporaneous speaking. After receiving a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Eastern Montana College, he earned a master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Virginia, focusing his research on X-Ray Crystallography. In his early career at the Computer Sciences Corporation, he worked on the Small Astronomy Satellite, SAS-3, launched in 1975, which measured the X-ray emission of extra galactic sources, including neutron stars, white dwarfs, and globular clusters.
Bruce moved to Northern California to work for NASA , eventually becoming Chief Engineer at the Ames Research Center, responsible for the Numerical Aerospace Simulation Facility dedicated to maintaining the US lead in Computational Fluid Dynamics. At Cisco Systems, he was a project manager in charge of critical enterprise-wide systems. He ended his career starting up a field office in Shanghai, China, for Rackable Systems. Throughout his career he was a strong and principled leader, who mentored many employees.
He also authored several scientific publications in his career and earned Exceptional Achievement and Exceptional Service medals from NASA.
Bruce’s interests extended well beyond computer engineering and aeronautics. He hand-crafted exquisite arts and crafts furniture, pursued hang gliding, biked miles on weekends, was an excellent cook, read voraciously on widely varied topics, and enjoyed traveling, particularly to Hawaii. He loved San Francisco, his home for three decades. And he was a spell-binding storyteller, with a wildly infectious laugh.
Bruce is survived by his partner of 27 years, Tony Wong, who cared for him for the past 12 years following a stroke and brain hemorrhage. Other survivors include his four siblings, Wendy Diliberti, Mike (Connie) Blaylock, Kathryn (Kevin) Hurtley, and Barbara (Mike) Keating as well as eight nieces and nephews: Josh and Jesse Blaylock, Ben and Nathan Day, Eliza and Joe Diliberti, and Katy and Michael Keating. Bruce was predeceased by his parents, Chester and Mildred Blaylock.
