Bruce Leslie (RIP....very sad to say)

[Steve E.]

Has anyone talked to Bruce Leslie recently? Is he OK?

Bruce Leslie just returned my Presto cutterhead. It appears that he did a magnificent job on it. I keep trying to call him to ask a couple of technical questions, and it appears he has not checked his messages for quite a while.

Anyone here in touch with him? Is he OK? I'm a little concerned.

Not meaning to distress anyone. Maybe he's just on a trip or something, but I'd love to be put at ease if this is the case.

thanks!

Steve

[grooveguy]

Steve: I looked at my Bruce correspondence and see that I last heard from him in April. Let me know if you learn anything.

[Steve E.]

Tron tipped me off to this. I think Bruce Leslie has passed, I am very sad to say:

http://obits.cleveland.com/Cleveland/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=121281562

Bruce lived in Cleveland, and when I called the funeral home this morning, they said this Bruce was involved in music and audio repair.

Major apologies if I am giving incorrect info. But circumstantial evidence is strong. (I had also left messages over the past month indicating a strong concern.)

I am guessing he died of health issues....I seem to recall he was hospitalized for a few days around the time I sent my cutter head for repair, and was scurrying to catch up on his work.

I didn't know Bruce well, but in my recent phone interactions with him I found him to be a sweet, sweet man, with a lot of good and rare knowledge, and a willingness to convey it. He was patient, and was willing to give me extra time to answer all my questions. It was very enjoyable taking the time to chat with him, and I had hoped there would be more.

Within the past 6 or 8 weeks, he did an excellent job repairing the cutter head of my antique record lathe. Thanks to him, it finally works, and works astonishingly well. (As a result, I can finally cut my own professional-quality records, which has been a dream for decades.) He included, as extras, all kinds of vintage parts I'd had a very hard time locating, for very decent prices. He included a handwritten letter with very thoughtful and helpful information.

He held onto the cutter head for a few extra days, because initially he wasn't quite satisfied with the results he was getting. He didn't let it leave his shop until he'd made some extra tweaks which brought it up to his very high standards of quality. A rare level of care in this day and age.

His work was held in high regard in this community. He was one of the few people on the planet who still knew how to repair this magical, poetic older technology. It says something when someone you have never met makes such a positive impression upon you. He will be missed very much.

Sorry to be the bearer of sad news but I thought you all should know.

Looks like condolences can be left here:

http://funeralplan.com/gdfh/current?id=151376

[grooveguy]

That's a real shame; Bruce wasn't that old. I do know that his parents passed relatively recently.

I have a big collection of correspondence with Bruce, he and I wrote frequently, mostly about his restoration projects. I will miss his handwritten letters on lined yellow paper.

[Doug6N]

I'm very saddened to hear of Bruce passing. He had rebuilt my cutter head Presto 1C some time ago. He had it for some time and was concerned that it be just right before he shipped it back to me.

It works wonderfully now.

Doug

[Steve E.]

Alan Graves did some sleuthing and confirmed Bruce's passing definitively.

[djlithium]

While I know it might sound ghoulish, please forgive me in asking, but has anyone checked with his family to see if any of the stuff he used for repairing heads is available for sale?
Might help them out with medical bills if he had a long illness left over or from being left without an income source or even the funeral itself.

I thought I would put that out there. Bruce sounded like a kind hearted and dedicated person to restoration and loved doing this kind of thing and I am sure he would have wanted to pass it on to others.

[Steve E.]

You know, I called that number around the time of the confirmation of his passing, and left a message saying almost exactly that, down to the apologetic word "ghoulish." I had also called in the weeks preceding the obit notice. I am pretty sure someone was checking the messages, but nobody ever called me back.

One of the things I said was that if he left any unfinished work, there might be people I knew here who would be willing to finish the jobs.

I also thought that people here might even be willing to do free labor to clear heavy stuff...! but who knows? It could have been cleared out by then. It would have been pretty quick. Hopefully friends of his got the works.

Indeed, when you've amassed a lifetime collection of restored arcane stuff, I would think you'd want it to stay in the world and in the hands of the quirky people who actually value it.

I'd say feel free to try it. You never know. Please let us know if you hear anything.

Here's the link to his number: https://lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?t=3&mforum=lathetrolls

I am going to de-sticky this thread. It's a bit macabre having it visible each time, and most of us have seen the info.