I N M EM O R I A M
Requiescat in Pace – The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno Below is the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles obituary of The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, former bishop of the Diocese and chair of the St. Margaret’s Board of Trustees, who died on April 23. St. Margaret’s Head of School Will Moseley said, “Bishop Bruno was a generous and gregarious person who emanated love and grace for all people. He was a dear friend, a faithful supporter and trusted counselor to the St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church and School community, serving as the school’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees from 2002 to 2017. He believed deeply in the promise of and investment in young people and was very proud of our school and the education we provide our students in the Episcopal school tradition. Please join our entire Episcopal community in prayers for the Bruno family and reverent remembrance of the extraordinary life and legacy of Bishop Bruno.” BY BOB WILLIA MS
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he Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno – who as bishop of the six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles from 2002 to 2017 widened the church’s welcome of all people by prophetically narrowing gaps created by race, gender, sexual orientation, and economic disadvantage – died April 23 at his home in La Quinta, Calif. He was 74, and Mary, his wife of 35 years, was at his side as he suddenly succumbed to natural causes, a family statement said.
“Our family and the many others who knew and loved Jon have been blessed with his magnificent life,” Mary Bruno said in the statement. “We are gladdened to know that he has been greeted by St. Peter and is in the loving hands of God. We ask that our family is included in your prayers and our privacy respected in this time of grief.” Survivors also include Bruno’s daughter, Jonelle; his son, Philip, and his wife, Mary; his stepson, Brent Woodrich, and his wife, Andrea; nine grandchildren; and many friends. He is predeceased by his sister, Toni Rae Bruno Taix, a Los Angeles attorney. “I know I speak for hundreds of lay and ordained folk all over our diocese when I say that the sudden loss of our friend, mentor, counselor, teacher, and advocate triggers a grief too deep for words,” Bishop John Harvey Taylor said. “Most of all, I remember Jon’s encouragement, his love, his smile, his twinkle, and his everlasting ‘yes.’ His legacy will continue to light us along the way. These early days and weeks, I know we’ll pray hardest for Mary and their family, who feel this loss most of all.”
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S T. M A R G A R E T ’ S E P I S C O PA L S C H O O L
Joseph Jon Bruno was born November 17, 1946 in Los Angeles and grew up, in a close-knit Roman Catholic family, in the Echo Park and Maravilla sections of Los Angeles. He graduated from L.A.’s Garfield High School, then from Cal State L.A. with a bachelor’s degree in physical education – having trained for a career in professional football – and the Virginia Theological Seminary, from which he later received an honorary doctorate. He held a certificate in criminology from Cal State Long Beach and served as a police officer in Burbank, California. During his youth, Bruno entered the Episcopal Church through the parish of Epiphany, Lincoln Heights, and decided to pursue the priesthood, having been influenced by his father’s own interest in himself becoming a Jesuit. Ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Robert C. Rusack in the Diocese of Los Angeles in 1978, Bruno served churches in Thousand Oaks and Pomona, Calif., and Eugene, Oregon, before beginning ministry as rector of St. Athanasius Church in Echo Park in 1986. There he conceived of the idea to build, on that site, the Cathedral Center of St. Paul and was installed as its first provost in 1994 by Bishop Frederick H. Borsch. He succeeded Borsch in 2002 as sixth bishop of Los Angeles, having been elected bishop coadjutor in 1999. Bruno was ordained and consecrated to the episcopate on April 29, 2000 at the Los Angeles Convention Center with a congregation of some 4,000 attending from across the diocese.
