Bruce B. McConnell ’67

Bruce McConnell died suddenly Oct. 22, 2009, of a stroke.  

Bruce prepared at Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. He majored in history at Princeton and ate at Terrace. He was a member of the Chapel Choir and was active in the Trenton Tutorial Project. His senior-year roommates were David Chesham, Bob Chilstrom, Bob Lem, George Nelson, and Jim Rakowski. The “Polish Cavalry” enjoyed exploring the Princeton surroundings on bicycles. Bruce introduced Bob and Buena Chilstrom; Bruce and his former wife, Gail Lennstrom, and the Chilstroms served as godparents for each other’s children.

Bruce earned a medical degree from UCSF and interned at Philadelphia General Hospital. He was a resident at the Yale Department of Psychiatry and served as a major in the Army Medical Corps. Board-certified in 1978, he practiced psychiatry at several VA hospitals and Bridgeport (Conn.) Hospital. He was an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Yale from 1982 until his retirement in 2008.

Bruce deeply believed in economic, social, and political fairness. An ardent outdoorsman, he hiked, bicycled, and cross-country skied and considered one of his most significant life experiences his three descents by canoe of Maine’s Allagash River.  

The class extends condolences to Bruce’s son, Derek; daughter Kate; grandsons Luke, Andre, and Curtis; and Gail.