Bruce James Smith Political science professor and dean at Allegheny College, emphasized role of 'political process and activism' Bruce James Smith, or "Bru" to family and friends, died late Friday night, July 13, 2018, after a four-year battle with stage 4 melanoma. He was 72. Relatives and friends are invited to attend his memorial service on Saturday, July 21, 2018 from 11 a.m. to 12 noon at Restland Memorial Park Chapel, 77 De Forest Ave., East Hanover, N.J. Visiting hours will be on Friday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Par-Troy Funeral Home, 95 Parsippany Rd., Parsippany, N.J., (973) 887 - 3235, or visit partroyfuneralhome.com. Bruce was born on April 24, 1946, the son of Lovday and Lewis Smith. Lewis had only recently returned from being seriously wounded and losing his left leg in France in August of 1944. Bruce was born in Glen Ridge, N.J., and spent his first years living with his parents in West Caldwell, N.J. Tragedy struck the Smith family in 1954 when Lewis died of cancer. Bruce was only eight and his younger brother, Bob, nearly four. This left Lovday alone to raise Bruce and Bob as a single parent. Bruce inherited his working-class ethos and fierce egalitarianism from his mother. Bruce was an avid collector and focused his efforts on collecting baseball cards in his youth and rare R&B, blues and jazz records throughout his life and later, early American furniture and housewares. Bruce was known as the "Greaser with Brains" in high school and spent his late teens and early 20s rebel- rousing in environs around Parsippany, where the family had relocated. In early 1968, Bruce married Regina "Sue" Pennachio, on June 14, having their first child, Jason, in 1970. Bruce would move his family to their first home, an old farmhouse on Schooley's Mountain in Long Valley, N.J., in 1972. In 1985 they had a second child, Daisy. In the mid-'60s, as a factory worker, Bruce helped organize a wildcat strike of production-line workers and consequently became interested in political science, particularly political theory and philosophy as they relate to political action. Bruce turned his political organizing skills to the anti-war movement and the United Farm Workers Union in the late '60s and early '70s. Eventually, Bruce earned his undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees at Rutgers in political science. Bruce's doctoral dissertation title, "Politics and Remembrance," was published in 1985 by Princeton University Press. After defending his dissertation, he taught as an associate professor at Vassar College from 1981 until 1984. In 1984, he took a position teaching at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., where he taught until the fall semester of 2017. He would serve as the president of faculty council, political science chair and dean of the college. In his classes, Bruce fostered vigorous discussions and high intellectual standards, helping his students to hone their skills of inquiry and analysis, and emphasizing the importance of the political process and activism in democratic societies. In the last year of his life, Bruce finished his second book, "The Sense of Injustice and the Origin of Modern Democracy," which was published in June 2018 by Rochester University Press. Bruce loved to travel abroad. It was a passion sparked by a trip with his son, Jason, in 1997 to London, Scotland, and Ernee, the small village in France where his father had been wounded and subsequently saved in World War II by the brave actions of the town's citizens. The warmth, generosity, and friendship offered to Bruce by the citizens of Ernee and the surrounding area made a lasting mark on Bruce's heart and psyche. Bruce enjoyed vacationing along the Maine coast; his family has a cabin on Echo Lake on Mount Desert Island. Bruce and Sue built their retirement home on Swan's Island, Maine, where he spent his final hours surrounded by his wife, brother and children. Bruce is survived by his wife, Sue; his son, Jason and his wife, Tricia; his daughter, Daisy; his brother, Bob and Bob's wife, Anne, and his nephew, Eric. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Bruce's memory to the Hillman Cancer Center, 5115 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15232 or please visit hillman.upmc.com.