Dr. Robert Bruce, who developed treadmill test, dies at 87
Dr. Bruce was known as the "father of exercise cardiology," and his name is uttered daily by physicians all over the world: The gold-standard test for heart function is known as the "Bruce Protocol."
"He's one of the heroes of cardiology," said Dr. Richard Page, head of the UW Division of Cardiology. "He set the standard for all of us."
Dr. Bruce became the school's first director of cardiology in 1950, a position he held for more than three decades. He helped make the UW a leader in heart research and clinical care.
Earlier this week, Page and more than a dozen cardiologists from the UW hosted a party to honor Dr. Bruce at Ida Culver House, his assisted-living community. A 13-year battle with leukemia had left him very weak, but he attended in a sport coat and tie.
"He was extremely modest and wouldn't entertain the idea he was as important as he was," said his son, Peter Bruce of Lakewood. "But he really seemed to take it all in that night."
Dr. Bruce's wife, Barbara Klemka Bruce, thinks he held on for days so he could be there for the tribute. "He died the next morning," she said.
The couple met at Ida Culver House and married in June 2002. It was Dr. Bruce's third marriage. Always an avid exerciser, Dr. Bruce until recently insisted the pair walk a mile along the waterfront every day.
Born in Boston, Dr. Bruce earned his bachelor's degree at Boston University, where he met Eleanor Hinckley, his wife of more than 50 years and the mother of his four children. He earned his medical degree from the University of Rochester in New York in 1943. After completing his training in cardiology in New York, Dr. Bruce came to the UW and began developing methods of testing for early signs of heart disease.
Before Dr. Bruce's landmark research, there was no way to adequately test heart function during physical activity. In the 1996 UW publication "Pathbreakers," Dr. Bruce explained the need for such a measure with an analogy: "You would never buy a used car without taking it out for a drive and seeing how the engine performed while it was running, and the same is true for evaluating the function of the heart."
His studies led to the 1963 publication of the standardized treadmill test, which involves hooking patients up to electrodes and an oxygen analyzer and having them exercise on a treadmill that grows faster and has a steeper incline every few minutes.
His first wife died in 1994, and a daughter, Nancy Bruce, died in 1972. He married his second wife, Jean Laughlin, in 1995, and she died in 2000.
Survivors include his wife, Barbara Klemka Bruce; sons Robert Bruce of Perth, Australia, Peter Bruce of Lakewood, and Scott Bruce of Cambridge, Mass.; four grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.
A memorial service will be held at University Congregational Church on Friday at 3 p.m. Remembrances may be made to Cardiology Fellows Resource Center, University of Washington Division of Cardiology, Box 356422, Seattle, WA 98195-6422.
Julia Sommerfeld: 206-464-2708 or jsommerfeld@seattletimes.com