Remembering Bruce Seifer - Homage by Lauren-Glenn Davitian

I first met Bruce Seifer on the corner of Battery Park, one cold clear crisp Town Meeting Day morning, as he waved a “Bernie for Mayor” sign to passing motorists. On my bike, I stopped to see if he wanted a cup of coffee and we became fast friends. Bruce was part of the bedrock of the social and economic change brought forward by Mayor Bernie Sanders and implemented progressive values in the DNA of our City. 

Almost everywhere you look, Pine Street, North Winooski Avenue, downtown, you see the result of Bruce’s efforts to create and sustain local business and vibrant business corridors. Bruce’s rolodex is legendary. He was the person to call if you needed to make connections, source funds, or build a new economy.

Bruce’s enduring work is laid out in countless videos in the CCTV archives. In this 1986 video, Bruce and Bernie visit Lilydale Bakery, one of the first businesses started in the Pine Street Corridor. Bruce talks the evolution of this vision with the “South End Arts and Business Association” in this 2017 Founders Panel. And we interview him here about the book he co-authored “Sustainable Communities: Creating a Durable Local Economy”.

Bruce was a kind, dear and good man. He played an outsized role in creating Burlington as a model for the world while he knit together his friends and neighborhood with his gentle touch. Bruce is gone too soon, joining his beloved son Bentley, also gone too soon. This hole gapes in our hearts, but Bruce Seifer’s legacy lives on. Rest in Power.