Bruce Handley (1945-2019)

From The Sacramento Bee:

Bruce A. Handley of Sacramento died peacefully of heart failure at home on December 8, 2019. He was born in Santa Rosa in 1945 where he grew up with many life-long friends. He graduated from Long Beach State in business and then later, was one of the first to get a degree at Sacramento State in Environmental Studies. There he learned about Sierra Big Horn Sheep and was involved for the rest of his life with the reintroduction of the sheep to the Eastern Sierra. He was happily married to Pat Sayer-Handley for 29 years. From a previous marriage, he is survived by a daughter, Karen and three grandsons: Dylan, Kody and Hunter. He is survived by his "Big Bro", Mike Handley of Santa Rosa. Bruce had a passion for the outdoors. He was an accomplished mountain climber and climbed Mt. McKinley in 1982. He helped create the Cosumnes River Preserve when he was working with the Nature Conservancy. He also led the tree planting along the Sacramento Northern Parkway. He was recognized as an environmental leader with two Switzer fellowships. He was involved in many restoration projects throughout California. He recently produced "Made in the Shade" a documentary that told the history of trees in Sacramento for KVIE. Bruce was enthusiastic about all that he undertook as demonstrated in the stories he would tell. Friends are invited to a tree planting ceremony in his honor on January 11. Contact Ray Tretheway at the Sacramento Tree Foundation, 916-924- 8733, for details. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Bruce to the Sacramento Tree Foundation at www.sactree.com/donate or to Heifer International at heifer.org and contact volunteer@heifer.org for the tribute account.