Contact us: (412) 271-0345
Since 1922
Tribute Wall
Saturday
1
October
Celebration of Life
2:30 pm
Saturday, October 1, 2022
Simmons Auditorium in the Tepper Quad
4765 Forbes Ave,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
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Carole Stivers posted a condolence
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
I just now came across this notice, and am heartily saddened by the loss of this wonderful soul. The last time I saw Marcel in California, he told me about his father's cancer and how it had inspired his own future plans. And he commiserated with me at the loss of a dear friend to glioblastoma. He went off to Carnegie Mellon, where I had the privilege of visiting him and seeing his lab. It's stunning that this happened to him - such a bright light, whose brain held an astounding capacity both for learning and for love.
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Max Batres posted a condolence
Monday, October 3, 2022
Marcel had acquired a pony keg of Harpoon IPA.
As a new freshman at MIT in 1992, this is how I was introduced to Marcel, and Marcel introduced me to this curious new beverage. Pungent, crisp and floral--it was completely foreign to me, so contrary to the bland, unoffensive party juice I had expected. It was a revelation. Meeting and knowing Marcel was also a revelation.
It is an irony to have been introduced to Marcel in the cliché circumstance of drinking beer from a keg in college. Marcel was the opposite of cliché, the opposite of banal. I remember a T-shirt of his that I loved--a fraternity parody with the greek letters SIGMA PHI followed by a slashed ZERO. Sigma Phi Nothing. Marcel was ever the anti-frat boy.
I still laugh remembering encountering Marcel, early one morning, walking back to Bexley Hall from the Mass Ave. crosswalk. He was both livid and groggy, carrying an aerosol can. MIT facilities had installed an electromechanical bell that would ring loudly and omnidirectionally whenever the crosswalk light was on. For several days the entire north side of Bexley was woken up every morning to an incessant, fire drill-like alarm bell. It was unbearable and we had no recourse. Finally, one night Marcel went to his lab and retrieved a can of spray polymer that hardens in place and sprayed it into the bell, freezing the mallet into a solidified mass. The next morning the ringing had devolved into a muted, sad kind of gurgling. When I saw him, Marcel had just finished delivering the death blow. Better living through chemistry.
Marcel taught us that being counter culture didn't have to mean being apathetic or cynical, it was about caring a lot. Marcel used the sharp blade of his intellect and the fire of his spirit in the pursuit of justice--to fight for a kind of integrity and authenticity, against the grain of senseless conventions if necessary. Marcel's spirit was the spirit of a rebel.
I remember Marcel, his senior year, thinking aloud about his future and musing that he was probably going to be the biggest sell-out of all, positing that the most extreme end up the most mainstream. I remember laughing at the thought of corporate Marcel. I still can laugh at the fiction of that. Does the true rebel rebel against rebelliousness?
It came as no surprise to anyone how incredibly Marcel's professional life proceeded. And that he seemed to do it on his terms. When I heard he became a professor, it seemed destined to be so. Learning of his many subsequent accomplishments through the years has been a joy, and yet it seemed that for Marcel, of course this would be the shape of his future.
Marcel will always be the rebel in my mind, and I will always think of you, Marcel, when I take the first sip of an IPA. Thank you for showing me your spirit.
Cheers, Marcel.
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Chris Pratt uploaded photo(s)
Friday, September 30, 2022
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I am forever grateful to have had Marcel as my PhD thesis advisor. He truly is and will remain one of my scientific heroes and I could not have had a better mentor and coach!
Marcel embodied excitement for science and boundless exploration. I remember his childlike excitement coming into the lab with a new dye and already having a million ideas for it. I was awed regularly throughout my 5 years working with him at his outside-the-box thinking: Marcel thought of using biology in ways that nobody else would have and I learned so much from him.
Perhaps most importantly, Marcel championed work-life balance and was a coach beyond the lab. When my son was born, Marcel offered advice through my first months of parenthood before graduation, and even after I left the lab, he was a steadfast and endlessly supportive career coach. Marcel helped me become the scientist I am, but also helped me realize my value both in science and outside it, and for that, I am forever grateful. Thank you, Marcel!
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Anmol Grover uploaded photo(s)
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
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Marcel was a dream PI. He was cool. He was hip. He had a great sense of humor. He was intelligent and he treated you extremely, extremely nice. Him being nice to me was very significant since I was new to the country, the US education system, biomedical science and the Yinzer life. I was one of his earliest students- we both were trying to figure our paths. He was a new PI and I was a new researcher.
He was always extremely positive, an engaged listener, and very patient in explaining you about science, German beer, US political scene, and life in general. His commitment and enthusiasm for science was unmatched. His gait, his concentration and his voice would noticeably change when he was engaging in science, rushing to kickstart an experiment, or tweaking with laser lights and lenses to set up the microscope. There was a childlike enthusiasm, curiosity, excitement, and nervousness. What really stood out to me was his impeccable grasp on writing- something that I wanted to imitate so badly. He wrote the shell of my first manuscript on his flight to his vacation.
Outside lab, he loved beer, running, and biking. In our lab we would be nervous every time he would go for a marathon run because he would come back with new scientific ideas that we considered were outlandish but he thought were attainable. He said his thoughts were most clear while he ran.
I'm so glad I had Marcel as my research thesis advisor and a confident/ friend for my first introductory years in the US. Marcel-you were in amazing mentor friend and a generous human being!!!
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Linda Hill posted a condolence
Monday, September 19, 2022
You did not have to know Marcel for long to realize he was brilliant. I had the pleasure of working with him in what I believe was his only foray into private industry, some 20 years ago. Despite the fact that few were his intellectual equals, he treated everyone with courtesy and respect, listening intently to their thoughts and opinions. His fantastic sense of humor, though, was his most endearing quality. With my little Bachelor’s degree in Business, I was surrounded by a sea of Ph.D scientists, some of whom treated me with complete contempt. Once, during a spirited discussion of a candidate’s CV, one of the Ph.D.s, stopped abruptly and said to me disdainfully, “Do you even know what an anti mouse is?”.
“Sure”, I said. “It’s an incredibly evil little mouse with three 6’s tattooed on his head”. Marcel laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes.
I am deeply saddened for the loss of such a brilliant mind and a lovely person. Rest in peace Marcel.
With much affection,
Linda Hill
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Wendy Yeh posted a condolence
Sunday, September 18, 2022
I remember Marcel’s kind smiles, open heart, loving spirits and creativity. Holding Julie and Leo in my heart and fondly remember Leo and my son had their first ever play date as infants.
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Norman Evanson posted a condolence
Sunday, September 11, 2022
I'm deeply saddened to hear of the news of Marcel's passing. He was an extraordinary person and will be much missed by all of those whom his life touched. I offer my deepest condolences to his friends family.
I knew Marcel for little more than a few months and, of course, it was through the medium of two wheels. Marcel spent some time on an academic exchange in Cambridge (UK) and was keen to get some cycling in while he was over this side of the pond, searching out the local mountain bike group, of which I am a member. He turned up on a bit of a ragtag Cotic BFe, an iconic UK bike made for much tougher countryside than was on offer in the gentle fields and fens around our city.
I don't think he expected the type of riding he found with us, especially in winter. Week after week, he would turn up with a growing yet mirthful incredulity that seemingly yet again, he would be dragging his bike around muddy field edges, in the rain, at 100% humidity in temperatures just enough above freezing that there was no change of anything crisp and firm. We always stop at a pub, to dry off and get warm as much as have cheer, and during the mandatory two pints of warm ale and twelve packets of crisps (U.S = chips), we frequently assured him that the sunlit uplands of long light summer nights, hardpack soil and ale that didn't taste of soil were only a matter of months away. We heard many tales of Frick Park and the quality of his local riding huddled around the only semi-warm radiator in the otherwise deserted village pubs we regularly frequent. His enthusiasm was infectious and great to witness.
Alas, his illness called him back home just as the weather here was showing signs of improvement, so i've never really been sure that he actually believed that the place was ever going to be anything apart from mud, cold and agriculture. Every winter since he left, just when the weather is being really unpleasant, I often recall his rain and mud splattered smiling face, pondering whether the next obstacle on our route was another muddy field edge. Of course it is, we would answer, and off we would go, a merry bunch of bike loving madmen (for we are mostly a male brigade) questing for that next pint of "old owl pellet" of whatever was the "special" on draught was.
We'll raise a glass to you next time the we're out Marcel. Cheers !
Norman Evanson, Cambridge, UK
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Anonymous purchased flowers
Monday, September 5, 2022
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Peace be with you, Julie and Leo. What a fight you all have fought. Thinking of you and missing Marcel.
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Matha Naganbabu uploaded photo(s)
Saturday, September 3, 2022
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Marcel with me soon after my PhD defense!
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Matha Naganbabu posted a condolence
Saturday, September 3, 2022
While there are many professors who are PhD advisors, Marcel is a true mentor - he mentored me as a scientist, runner, and as a non-scientific professional during and even after my PhD. This gap can never be filled. He always believed in work life balance an encouraged me to workout and stay healthy. Apart from research advise, he helped me pick my first running shoe, let me prepare for a career at the interface of science and business, wrote recommendation letters in support of my application 10 days after his firstGBM surgery, and finally, made an exception to his Keto diet by having a Gulab jamun (Indian dessert) during my wedding - I requested him to have it as he liked it.
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Burak Ozdoganlar posted a condolence
Saturday, September 3, 2022
I would like to say I am so deeply saddened to lose a great friend, a brilliant colleague and scientist, and such a beautiful soul. I hope, Leo, you know how much he loved you and was proud of you. He talked about you all the time. I am so so sorry for your loss. -- Burak Ozdoganlar
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The family of Marcel Bruchez uploaded a photo
Friday, September 2, 2022
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The family of Marcel Bruchez uploaded a photo
Friday, September 2, 2022
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The family of Marcel Bruchez uploaded a photo
Friday, September 2, 2022
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Since 1922
Charles C. Nied - Supervisor
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