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John Robert “Jack” Bruggeman, 67, of Vienna, Virginia died peacefully at his home one year ago on Friday, March 27, 2020, with his loving family by his side. He had been receiving hospice care for several months after being diagnosed with brain cancer. A native Washingtonian, Jack was born December 4, 1952, at Georgetown University Hospital, son of Robert Leo Bruggeman and Lois Dane Bruggeman (neé Walters), formerly of Alexandria, Virginia. Jack was preceded in death by both of his parents and an infant daughter, Kathryn Claire, who died in 1983.
He is survived by his wife of 42 years Paula Villani Bruggeman of Vienna, and two daughters, Emily Bruggeman of Fairfax, Virginia, and Karyn Bruggeman of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is also survived by a brother, Michael Bruggeman of Charlottesville, Virginia and a sister Catherine Bruggeman of Burke, Virginia.
Jack was a graduate of Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria and earned a B.A. degree in US history from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary.
He enjoyed a 38-year career in professional reference publishing, specializing in health care, and worked for several publishers including Prentice-Hall, Medical Economics, Little Brown & Company, and Aspen Publishers. He retired in 2016 from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, in Bethesda, Maryland, where he had worked for 11 years as director of special publishing. While there he received the Phil Naut Associate Member Award from the Pharmacy Technician Educator’s Council in recognition of his contributions to pharmacy technician education.
As an “encore” career in retirement, Jack and his wife, Paula, combined their lifelong love of books and book collecting with his sales and publishing experience to launch an independent antiquarian bookselling business, Ayr Hill Books, in 2017.
In addition to his professional career, Jack was a long-time advocate for citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In the course of 13 years, he served in various capacities on the board of directors for Central Fairfax Services (CFS) in Springfield, Virginia. He led an ad hoc committee that oversaw the affiliation of CFS in 2010 with Service Source, a regional nonprofit association serving individuals with intellectual and development disabilities. He served as a member of Service Source’s board of directors from 2010 to 2017. In 2015, he was elected to the board of directors of Community Residences, Inc. (CRi), a nonprofit service organization that provides residential and community services to a thousand individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities in the DC Metro area. At the time of his death, Jack served as chairman of the CRi board of directors and chair of its Foundation Board.
In 2016, Jack was appointed by then Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to a four-year term on the Virginia State Board for Behavioral and Developmental Services, a policy-making body authorized to set policy for the State Department of Behavioral Health Disability Services, state health facilities, and Community Service Boards. Upon his resignation from the Board due to his illness, Jack received a special resolution from the Board honoring his service, as well as a letter from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, thanking him for his advocacy for improved mental health and disability services in Virginia.
A Mass of Christian burial will be held on Saturday, June 19, 2021 at 10 am in Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, 5 East Main Street, Milford, Massachusetts. A graveside service and burial will follow in Sacred Heart Cemetery, 110 Medway Road, Milford.
The family also plans to hold a life celebration/memorial service for Jack, to be scheduled in Vienna, Virginia in late summer/early fall of 2021. Schedule updates will be posted on this website. Depending on the status of state/local COVID restrictions on gathering sizes, in person attendance at this celebration may need to be limited.
In lieu of flowers, Jack’s family requests that donations be made in his name to Community Residences, Inc. of Chantilly, VA, (www.mycri.org) either to the CRi Foundation or to the Jack Bruggeman Tuition Assistance Fund for CRi employees that was established last year in Jack’s name. Please see link at bottom of page.
To watch Jack's funeral Mass please click on the blue highlighted box below.
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Community Residences, Inc.
14160 Newbrook Drive, 20151 703-842-2300 | info@mycri.org, Chantilly VA 20151
Tel: 1-703-842-2300
Email: info@mycri.org
Web: http://www.mycri.org
The CRi Foundation or to a special Tuition Assistance Fund for employees that was recently established in Jack’s name.