FORT MYERS, Fla. – Bruce died peacefully on April 1, 2024, with his loving wife and children by his side.

Born in Portland on Jan. 4, 1939, the first of Merle (Schubert) and John “Jack” D. Leddy’s four boys, Bruce was raised in Falmouth. Following high school in Falmouth, he went off to study at The Holderness School, Trinity College, and Boston University Law School.

After law school, Bruce and his new wife, Brooke Alexander returned to Portland to start their family and begin their adult life. Bruce was invited to join the law firm now known as Perkins Thompson, the only firm he ever knew during his career. Although Bruce was proud of following in his father’s footsteps and fashioning for himself a rewarding career in the law, what really gave him gratification, aside from his family, was devoting his considerable skill and energy to the founding, development, and building of the first Ronald McDonald House in Portland and his many years of work on behalf of the Portland Public Library.

Until he moved to Florida full-time in 2014, Bruce was a Maine boy all the way through. If the names Wasson’s Grove, Harmon’s, Foley’s, and Beals mean anything to you, you’ll see the truth of that (you’ll also know Bruce loved ice cream and found a way to eat it almost every day – a gift and a curse passed by genetics, according to his children).

Bruce played in the Little League World Series with the Falmouth (Suburban) All-Star team in 1951 and was the Maine State High School tennis singles champion in 1957. With his children in tow, he skied the mountains of Maine, starting on a rope-tow on a neighborhood hill in Falmouth and later at Sunday River, and played in the waters of Casco Bay. He loved tennis, squash, skiing, and windsurfing in his younger years and tennis and golf as he aged. To say he wasn’t one to sit still would be an understatement – Bruce taught all who knew him about hard work, determination, and fair play. He also showed them all how to have fun and enjoy life. His family is profoundly grateful for all the pictures of Bruce with a big smile on his face, living his life fully and well.

In 1979, following his divorce, Bruce met and convinced to move to Maine, Helen Kruk Goodrich. They married on Nov. 24, 1982, the day before Thanksgiving, in a small dining room ceremony attended by their five children. For the next 42 years Bruce and Helen split their life between Falmouth and, at first Thompson Lake in Oxford and later the Fort Myers area in Florida. They spent their time with the many, many friends they made in Maine, Florida, and in their wide travels, including bucket list drives the entire lengths of Route 1 from Maine to Florida and Route 66 from Chicago to California.

Bruce loved his family deeply and was loved as deeply in return. Surviving Bruce are his beloved wife, Helen Leddy of Fort Myers, Fla.; his children Kate Dodge and her husband Jonathan and children Gideon, Philip, and Elizabeth; Alec and his children Madison (Max), T. Henry, and Jack; Will and his wife Bettina and their children Brooke, Emma, and Hailey; his stepchildren Jill Goodrich and her husband Kevin O’Connell, and Victor Goodrich. He is also survived by his brothers John and Sam of Maine.

If you want to do something that would please Bruce, take someone(s) you love out to dinner and tell them you love them and say the things we unfortunately wish we had said before they died. Enjoy the moment. Bruce did.

Contributions in Bruce’s memory can be made to the

Ronald McDonald House in Portland,

250 Brackett St.,

Portland, ME 04102, or the

Portland Public Library (www.portlandlibrary.com/support-the-library).

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