Bruce Edward Wolk

It is with profound sadness we announce the passing of Bruce Edward Wolk, age 62, on Sunday October 13, 2024. Bruce was surrounded by his loving family when he passed, after 8 ½ years fighting stage four metastatic prostate cancer. Bruce was a beloved husband, father, grandfather (Papa Bruce the Moose), son, brother, brother in law, uncle, and friend.

Bruce was born to Walter and Mary Wolk on April 25, 1962, in New Britain, Connecticut. The Wolk family moved from Connecticut to San Jose, California in the summer of 1967, where Bruce was raised and continued to live throughout his life. Bruce graduated from Leland High School in June 1980, San Jose State University in May 1996 with a BS in Business Marketing, and Santa Clara University in August 2001 with his MBA. He was a proud SCUMBAG and enjoyed attending many SCU events over the years.

Bruce followed in his father’s footsteps, proudly serving our country by joining the U.S. Navy in the summer of 1982. Bruce was stationed in Pearl Harbor onboard the USS Rathburne FF-1057, where he made lifelong friends with his fellow Squids and Shellbacks, keeping in touch with his Navy buddies still to this day. He was honorably discharged in December 1985, moving back home to San Jose.

Being such an outgoing and friendly person, it was an easy choice for Bruce to pursue a decades long career in electronic sales. He started his sales career in the mid-1990’s with his father at Blue Electronic Sales. He took a career pause in 2000 to complete his MBA and to raise his son, rejoining the industry in early 2003, going to work at E-Purchasing Solutions. He then moved to Microcrystal, and eventually Epson Electronics America, where he retired from in September 2020. Bruce made lifelong friends at each position; with coworkers who became close friends and who he absolutely loved and enjoyed spending his workdays with. His favorite saying developed over his sales career was “give them a reason to say yes,” and he applied that to many facets of his life.

Bruce loved to travel, beginning with his Navy days throughout the Pacific islands and down to Australia, to his sales career, taking him to western Europe, Asia, South America, and all over Canada and Mexico. With his family, he loved to travel to Hawaii, the Caribbean, and Europe. Bruce was also an avid and life-long Oakland Raiders and Oakland Athletics fan, disappointed to see both teams leave the Bay Area.

Bruce loved classic rock n’ roll music and live concerts, meeting his wife Jill at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View in the fall of 1992. Bruce and Jill were inseparable once meeting, and married in May of 1996, blessed with over 28 years of building their life together and raising their family. They enjoyed decades of fun traveling, going to Raiders games locally and abroad, working out together, and attending all sorts of music and sporting events. Bruce’s absolute greatest joy in life however were his children Dylan and Jennifer; he was humbled by the privilege of being their father. He was the most proud dad, enjoying coaching and cheering his children on in all their academic and sports events, and would regale everyone he met with stories of them.

Bruce is survived by his wife Jill, son Dylan, daughter Jennifer, son-by-choice Chris Knutson (Emily), grandsons Finn, Oliver and Vance Knutson, brothers Jim (Yolanda), Don (Janet), Peter (Lisa), brother in law Albert Lazo, sister-in-law Kim Calder, sister-in-law Chelsea Verhasselt (John Dugan), son-in-law to Jerry Verhasselt and Diane Dawson, and loving uncle to Matt Bradley, Alex Bradley, Marlee Borges (Codey), Cedric Wolk, Patrick Wolk, Karlie Wolk, Audrey Wolk, Ethan Wolk, and Brianna Verhasselt. Bruce was predeceased by his father Walter Wolk (2002), mother Mary Wolk (2003), sister Maureen Bradley Lazo (2019), sister Sue Wolk (2020), and sister in law Pamela Verhasselt (2017).

Please join us in celebrating Bruce’s life on Saturday, January 18, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. at Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel, 710 Willow Street, San Jose. A reception and luncheon will follow the service, at the same location. A private interment service will be held for family at a later date.