Thank you, Mike, for sharing this news, tragic though it is.
Bruce was one of the shining lights of the 1978 class. As I remember it, that was the last class that got to vote on who would play whom in the plays we were performing, and Bruce impressed us all so much in our first days at Winedale that we entrusted him with the roles of both Nick Bottom and Mercutio. And he ran with those parts, investing them with so much energy and brio and wit that, like the characters in the plays, you wanted to follow him everywhere. Like David said about Benedick and Bruce, I can't hear the Queen Mab speech or Pyramus' rage over Thisbe's death without hearing Bruce's voice. It did indeed do any man's heart good to hear him roar.
Robert
On Fri, Apr 17, 2026 at 9:06 AM Michael Godwin via Winedale-l < winedale-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:
Here's the bio entry on Bruce at the American Academy of Diplomacy.
https://www.academyofdiplomacy.org/members-1/wharton/david-bruce
Mike
On Fri, Apr 17, 2026 at 8:15 AM Michael Godwin mnemonic@gmail.com wrote:
Here's a link directly to the report from Nehanda Radio.
https://nehandaradio.com/2026/04/16/former-us-ambassador-to-zimbabwe-bruce-w...
Mike
On Fri, Apr 17, 2026 at 8:03 AM Maria Black mariablack1@gmail.com wrote:
No! He was among the very best of men! Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 17, 2026, at 7:08 AM, 'TERRY GALLOWAY' via Shakespeare at Winedale Email List shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list@googlegroups.com wrote:
He was a lovely, kind sweetheart of a man. And David, thank you for that photo you took of Bruce and me rehearsing the play shall not be named. I always loved the way he was handsome. Terry Sent from my iPad
On Apr 17, 2026, at 2:37 AM, David Sharpe dpsharpeaustin@gmail.com wrote:
I'll never be able to think of the role of Benedick in 'Much Ado About Nothing' without thinking of Bruce Wharton and hearing his voice. He did an exemplary and sterling job of embodying the role.
David Sharpe.
On Thu, Apr 16, 2026 at 11:02 PM Michael Godwin mnemonic@gmail.com wrote:
According to reports I'm getting from Zimbabwean friends, former U.S. Ambassador David Bruce Wharton has died. I don't have much more news than that. I expect there will be obituaries in the national press tomorrow.
For those who may not know him, Bruce Wharton (we knew him as Zimbabweans knew him, as "Bruce") attended Shakespeare-at-Winedale in 1978 and 1979.
Even those of us who do know him may not know that he was beloved by Zimbabweans.