Uldis Bucus

At around 10:00 AM on August 28, 2023, the current world and Uldis (Rudy) Bucus came to a mutual agreement that they had their fill of each other. Rudy joined his Maker at eighty years of age, joining his mother (Melita), father (Rudolfs) and sister (Ieva). He is survived by his dear wife of 57 years (Sonia), son (Karl), daughter-in-law (Alicia Jan Francisco), and nephews (Frank, Jr., and Lars Hartman).

He was born in Riga, Latvia, immigrating to the U.S. as a child war refugee with his parents and sister. Not that he ever would have described it that way, as upon arrival, he discovered the peak of human civilization was achieved in southern New Jersey, in the 1950s.

He graduated from Woodbury High School at the same time as his future wife. Subsequently, he graduated from Drexel University (1967) with honors, earning a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to study Eastern European history at Duke. Instead, though, he made a tactical decision to study law, earning his J.D. from Villanova (1970), where he discovered that he really did love the law. He spent the bulk of his professional life as general counsel of Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance company.

The pinnacle of his professional career was when he sacrificed similar future full-time employment to ensure that when Fidelity went bankrupt, all available assets were distributed as equitably as possible to all employees, rather than pillaged by the corporate leadership.

His wife, son, and the Constitution of the United States were not his only passions. He also spent a great deal of time both succeeding and failing at catching fish. He caught them on multiple continents over seven decades of assiduous pursuit. In fact, while he never had truck with social media, he did have to create a LinkedIn account, once. His only job listed— “Independent fisheries professional.”

Rudy was never fond of churches, but was very fond of God. As such, the service is private. In lieu of flowers, please feel encouraged to make a donation to an animal shelter of your choice. If you don’t know which one, the Brandywine SPCA will make good use of your donation.