2013 DSA recipient

Bryan Pearce, 2013 Distinguished Service Award

The University of Washington community lost one of its most beloved members when Bryan Pearce, longtime University Book Store CEO and UWAA board member, died April 20 at the age of 55 from cancer. In ill health, he stepped down in January. He was posthumously presented with the UWAA’s Distinguished Service Award for 2013. The following is an excerpt of a tribute written by colleague Brad Craft. The complete tribute can be found here.

Bryan Pearce was a good man. He was a husband and a father, the CEO of the company, a force in both the business of independent and college bookstores, a devoted graduate and supporter of the University of Washington. Bryan’s was a life and a career that affected more people, I suspect, than he knew.

He was a gentleman. He invariably said, even of someone as remote from his position in the company as me, that we “worked together.” Bryan’s sincerity was new to me in a man in his position, at least when addressing a man in mine.

Bryan invariably meant what he said. That is a rare thing in my experience of bosses, and of men, come to that. When he asked for my opinion, he meant it. Though I can’t but think he must have regretted the question more than once, he never stopped asking. When he said he shared my concerns, he did. When he said he would follow up on something, he did.