Sometimes standing tall in the face of adversity is the true measure of an individual. I say that because Bruce Stave took on a difficult task of conducting the oral histories of The Hartford’s senior management team just as the company was about to sink into the abyss of the Great Recession. Recording history as it happened proved to be an eye-open and often frustrating task. Instead of a celebratory event to commemorate the company’s 200th anniversary, Bruce sometimes worried if he was bearing witness to the company’s demise. Amid senior executives dealing with a collapsing economy and their careening careers, Bruce was respectful, thoughtful, and yet preserved through a project that eventually came to an abrupt end due to the sheer emotional angst of the financial crisis and its impact on one of Connecticut’s oldest institutions.

I remember Bruce was apologetic for not being able to complete the project. He need not have been. His actions, example, and the recordings he was able to complete will forever stand as a testimonial to a historian’s historian. 

Peter J. Malia
The Connecticut Press

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