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Eulogy written and read by Valerie Breen, Executive Director, BIAF
at his funeral service Monday, February 18th (President’s Day)
TREMENDOUS. EXTRAORDINARY. He spoke these words when describing activities that meant a lot to him or people he appreciated. Those words describe him as well, Dr. Bernard Brucker, Board President of Brain Injury Association of Florida. An extraordinary man who committed a tremendous amount of time and resources to our cause. What better day than President’s Day, to honor our beloved Bernie.
It was Wednesday evening February 13th, 4:30 p.m. Bernie said he would call me and he did, right on time. He was rarely, if ever, late for an appointment. He opened our phone conversation as he always did with “Greetings” and I always said “Greetings Bernie… where are you calling me from this time? “ He could have been calling from Austria, India, Germany, China, somewhere in the U.S or right in his home town. “Tonight,” he said, “I am home and my dogs are at my feet.” Bernie always spent his precious time with you as if you were the only one who existed in his world at that moment. Bernie loved to teach and I loved to learn. Bernie, always thinking ahead, always committed, always consistent, always true to his word.
Bernie’s term as our Board President was going to end in June. He was reflective that evening, talking about all that had been accomplished over the past two years in his Presidency. He loved a marketing idea and was pleased when we launched HIS campaign in March last year, “The Brain. Respect It. Protect It.” He loved the fact that we had made a giant four-foot brain out of Styrofoam for an event at the Capitol and proudly displayed his cowboy hat on it. It was a marvelous photo op for HIS HAT and HIS BRAIN. He called it the “Brucker Brain” and used it in many presentations thereafter.
Brilliant and kind, thoughtful and sincere, always wanting to ensure that the right things were being done for our survivors of brain injury and their families. This night, he was full of thanks, to me, for what had been accomplished. He shared what he believed the future for brain injury to be, and wanted to make sure that I understood the next strategy for securing our funds. He reviewed who was flying with him on his plane to Tallahassee for our meeting in March, and wanted to make sure that our agenda times were such so he would be there on time.
We accomplished our mission that night and more. It was 6:00 p.m. I said I have to go…I have another appointment. Neither was eager to end the conversation. Who would have thought that this would be our last opportunity to laugh, to share, for me to learn - for him to teach. He finally said, “You go to your appointment now. Me, I am sitting here enjoying the moment with four 120 pound labs at my feet”. He loved those dogs, he loved Rita, his wonderful wife of 35 years, and he loved his work. Bernie had a big heart - one that failed him too soon at 61. We’ve had a huge loss in the brain injury family. His work and his life must live on in all of us - every day - in the work we do, in the causes we support, in the relationships we create and in the dogs we take in and love. Bernie will always be as big as life in the hearts and minds of all of us at Brain Injury Association of Florida.
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Brucker dedicated his professional career to improving the quality of life for people with physical disabilities. Using electromyography (EMG) feedback techniques, he developed methods of treatment that helped patients' brains 'reconnect' with their bodies. This signal-strengthening system came to be known as the Brucker Method, and it is still widely used in cases of paralysis.
Born in Hollywood, Calif., to Herman and Sylvia Brucker in 1946, 'Bernie' attended Monmouth University in New Jersey. He went on to Eastern New Mexico University, where he earned a master's degree, and then NYU where he earned a doctorate in psychology.
In 1988, Brucker helped former Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Larkin Allen Collins Jr., rendered quadriplegic after a car crash, regain the use of his hands. When Detroit Lions offensive lineman Michael Utley became paralyzed during a football game on Nov. 17 of 1991, Brucker assisted him in his rehabilitation.
Less glamorous was Brucker's work with those who could not afford treatment. The day after arriving in Miami from Greece in 1993, Domnoula Arabaslis was pickpocketed and left penniless in a strange new country. She had traveled to the United States so she could find treatment for her son, George Arabaslis, who has cerebral palsy. The thief made off with her life savings of $5,700. Brucker treated George, 22 at the time, despite his mother's inability to pay.
''I've already gotten more calls than I can count today from all over the world,'' said Brucker's wife, Dr. Rita Gugel. ``He's touched so many lives.''
In addition to his clinical work, Brucker helped open up rehabilitation clinics in several countries, according to longtime friend and colleague Dr. Barry Nierenberg. ''He really pushed to better the lives of people who survived brain and spinal cord injuries,'' Nierenberg said. Brucker served as chief of the Division of Psychology at UM/Jackson Memorial Medical Center from 1981 to 2005.
He also served as president of the Academy of Rehabilitation Psychology, the Florida Brain Injury Association and the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology of the American Psychological Association.
Brucker received numerous professional awards, including the Karl F. Heiser Presidential Award from the American Psychological Association. He was one of the founders and the original co-director of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
Outside of his professional life, he spent time raising and caring for his Labrador retrievers, Caulo, Thor, Zeus and Achilles.
An avid pilot, skier and boater, he lived on his 63-foot Bertram yacht and called the sea his home.
Brucker is survived by Gugel, his wife of 35 years; his brother, Daniel Brucker; and his sister-in-law, Margaret Jamolych.
Published in the Sun-Sentinel on 2/18/2008
Brucker, Dr. Bernard. Leadership and administration of the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital mourn profoundly the sudden and devastating loss of Dr. Bernard Brucker, Director of the Brucker Biofeedback Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine/Miami Jewish Home and Hospital. Dr. Brucker, 61, was an aircraft commander for the Coast Guard Auxiliary and a member of the Department of Homeland Security, who just returned Friday from a routine patrol. He died in the early morning hours Saturday from a massive heart attack at home in Ft. Lauderdale, with his wife, Dr. Rita Nacken Gugel, at his side. An Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, and Radiology at UM's Miller School of Medicine, Dr. Brucker was an innovative clinician and developer of the world renowned Brucker Method. He is best known for developing specific behavioral procedures for restoring function to people with physical disabilities. Previously, Dr. Brucker had been Chief of the Division of Psychology at UM/Jackson Memorial Medical Center from 19812005. He was the past President of the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology of the American Psychological Association and the recent past Chairman of the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Advisory Council for the State of Florida. Dr. Brucker was the President of the Academy of Rehabilitation Psychology and President of the Florida Brain Injury Association. He also held the Chair of the Ventilator Dependent Rehabilitation Task Force of the Florida. Dr. Brucker had received the Gill Moss Award from the National Spinal Cord Injury Association for outstanding scientific and clinical contributions, to spinal cord injury; the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dade County Chapter of the Florida Psychological Association and the Karl F. Heiser Presidential Award from the American Psychological Association. Dr. Brucker was one of the founders and the original CoDirector of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. When not garbed in his white lab coat, Bernie (as he liked to be called), was routinely dressed in a black suit and vest, cowboy boots and hat, a beloved figure on the Douglas Gardens campus. He was a man of many appetites, which he enjoyed with gusto raising his beloved Labrador Retrievers and flying. But by far, his greatest passion in life was caring for his patients from far-flung places. Little ones and adults alike came to his lab seeking restored mobility and function. In addition to treatment, Bernie provided the gifts of hope and compassion. Dr. Brucker is survived by Dr. Gugel, his wife of 35 years, his brother Daniel Brucker and sister-in-law Margaret Jamolych and a multitude of colleagues and friends. Services will be held today, Monday 10AM, at Riverside-Gordon Memorial Chapel, 1920 Alton Rd., Miami Beach, with burial to follow at Evergreen Cemetery, Ft. Lauderdale. Signed: Irving Cypen, Chairman of the Board Emeritus, Stephen H. Cypen, Chairman of the Board, Harold Beck, President, Sanford B. Miot, Chief Executive Officer and Fred Stock, Chief Operating Officer.
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