Bruce Gentry Blair

Bruce Gentry Blair was born to Donald and Betty (Bruce) Blair in Creston, Nov. 16, 1947, and while he became a preeminent scholar and activist for the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide, he remained an Iowan farm boy at heart throughout his life.

The grandson of Clarence and Helen Bruce and Grover and Mabel Blair of Afton, his happiest days of youth were spent on his grandparents’ farm, helping Clarence (“Boko”) with chores. Playing pranks with his younger brother, Steve, and driving the tractor were among his favorite activities.

As Bruce found his voice and sought to sound a global alarm on the dangers of launch-on-warning, nuclear accidents and unauthorized launch, he drew strength from an abiding sense of where he was from. His love for his family and respect for his rural roots underscored everything he did.

Bruce’s experience as a Minuteman launch officer in the U.S. Air Force created the seminal experience from which he launched his own career. Having been in the bunker, he brought this first-hand knowledge to bear on his research concerning the dangers of nuclear war, which he analyzed in his Ph.D. dissertation in Operations Research at Yale University, a study that became his first book, “Strategic Command and Control: Redefining the Nuclear Threat,” published by the Brookings Institution in 1985. The book received the “Sparky Baird” award, and Bruce was thereafter nicknamed “Sparky” by close colleagues at Brookings.

This book, and other books published by Brookings, eventually earned Bruce a MacArthur “genius” award in 1999, and the award in turn gave him the credibility to take the helm at the Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C., a small think tank that he grew to become the World Security Institute, a global organization with offices in Beijing, Brussels, Cairo and Moscow, producing a PBS television show, “Superpower,” and a Participant Media documentary shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010, “Countdown to Zero.”

This extraordinarily productive period of Bruce’s life also involved the establishment of Global Zero, an international movement joining policymakers from the highest levels of government and the military with youth activists from around the world.

In 2013, Bruce was invited to join the research faculty at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, in the Program on Science and Global Security. During his time at Princeton, he continued his writing and advocacy, including support for Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid and the inherent dangers of unchecked presidential authority to launch nuclear weapons. He remained on the board of Global Zero and continued to press for nuclear safeguards with the ongoing support of the Simons Foundation, the Skoll Foundation, and others. Just before the sudden stroke that led to his untimely death on July 19, 2020, Bruce was on Zoom calls and preparing articles to continue his passionate endeavor to make the world a safer place.

Bruce was married three times, to Cindy Olsen Hart, Monica Manchien Yin, and lastly to Sally Onesti Blair, his wife and partner for over 30 years. He had four beloved children: Carrie Blair Shives, Erica Helen Blair Lockney, Celia Paoro Yin-Blair and Thomas Onesti Blair, and seven grandchildren. He took deep pride in his children and expressed his greatest happiness when supporting them. Bruce’s confidence in his children was a hallmark of his life. Indeed, his passion for his work was matched only by his belief in his family. The importance of his mission, the clarity of his vision and the spirit of his love live on and strengthen us today.

Bruce will be interred Saturday, August 14, 2021, at the Greenlawn Cemetery in Afton, along with his mother, Betty (Bruce) Blair (deceased 2021), joining his brother, Stephen Thomas Blair (deceased 2014) and father, Donald Gentry Blair (deceased 2011).

He is survived by his wife and four children; seven grandchildren; sisters Kathy Donzis (Lewis), Jill Firszt (Steve) and Jann Jarvis (Lanny White); uncle Charles Bruce (Sandy) of Florence, Arizona; aunt Marilyn Lacina of Afton; numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Many testaments to Bruce’s dedication, integrity, and generous nature were published last summer and can be found online at the sites of The Brookings Institution, The New York Times, Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security, The Pulitzer Center, The Washington Post, and others.