Bruce J. McLaughlin, 89, of Salem, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, at Salem Hospital, surrounded by loved ones in his final hours.
Born in Lynn, MA, in 1935 to parents John McLaughlin and Janet (Lussier) Ayers, Bruce spent most of his life on the North Shore. He grew up in Salem’s Point neighborhood and attended Saltonstall School, where he met some of his lifelong friends. After two years at Salem High School, he moved to Peabody, MA, graduating from Peabody High School in 1954.
Handsome enough to be a movie star, Bruce spent a brief time after high school in Hollywood, where he played extras in approximately thirty movies, including Rebel Without a Cause and Blackboard Jungle. He then served in the U.S. Army until he was honorably discharged in 1962. Bruce returned to his hometown in his early twenties. It was there that he met the love of his life, Jeanette Garfield. The couple married and had their first child while Bruce earned his bachelor’s degree at Northeastern University. He then pursued a successful career in Human Resources, working at companies like United Shoe, Analogic, and Polaroid.
Jeanette and Bruce were true partners in life. Bruce devoted time to Jeanette’s sailing and traveling passions, while she supported his interests in political campaigns and golfing. Together, they purchased The Survey Group, a human resources consulting business that Bruce successfully led, with Jeanette providing essential behind-the-scenes support. They both fulfilled their mutual dream of retirement in Florida, first on Sanibel Island and later in The Villages. While in Sanibel, their children and grandchildren joyfully joined them for a vacation each year. It was during those vacations that “Papa” would take his once-yearly dip in the pool.
Bruce was deeply committed to his belief that government could be a force for good. He served on the Salem City Council in the late 1960s and as State Representative from 1976 to 1978, roles that brought him great pride and satisfaction. He maintained his interest in politics throughout his life.
With an insatiable sweet tooth, Bruce may have single-handedly kept Treadwell’s in business, enjoying coffee frappes daily. From his childhood and well into his 80s, Bruce played sports with local and new friends. As a boy, it was often with his South Salem buddies. In later years it was golfing in the Villages in Florida, at Kernwood Country Club, and very proudly, multiple mornings a week with friends at Salem Municipal Golf Course. He enjoyed lunch at Maria’s every Friday with many of those friends.
Bruce and Jeanette raised three devoted children: Scott, Nicole, and Kara, spending countless hours at swim meets and coaching or attending baseball games. They extended their love to their five grandchildren, taking each on a trip to national parks for their 10th birthday. On more than one of these trips, Bruce had memorable encounters with wild animals like moose, sea lions, and otters.
Bruce is predeceased by his best friend, confidant, partner-in-everything, and adoring wife of 60 years, Jeannette (Garfield) McLaughlin. He leaves behind his three devoted children and their spouses: Scott of Florida, Nicole and her husband Ben Waxman of Salem, and Kara and her husband John Keenan of Salem. He also leaves five adoring grandchildren, Gracen, Lillian, Aidan, Erin, and Noah, his beloved in-law family, Leonard and Maryann Garfield of Florida, Dixie and Thaddeus Kulik of Florida, James and Pamela Garfield of Cambridge, all of their children and grandchildren, and his special friend and late-in-life love, Kathy Dyer, of Peabody.
