School pays tribute to Bruce Feldhusen, beloved building automation systems manager

The ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration community is mourning the loss of a beloved staff member, Bruce Feldhusen, who died recently following an extended illness.

“Bruce was a crucial member of the School of Earth and Space Exploration team, working behind the scenes to serve our community,” said Meenakshi Wadhwa, the school's director. “He made sure that our building and facilities were optimized so that we could all accomplish our work. He will be missed.”

Feldhusen was the school’s senior building automation systems manager for the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 4 (ISTB4) on Arizona State University's Tempe campus and was responsible for the daily operations of the building’s complex system of offices and laboratories.

“He was our building whisperer,” said Professor Ramon Arrowsmith, the school’s associate director of operations. “With his dogged attention to detail and problem-solving orientation, he was uniquely qualified to manage our building.”

In 2020, when ASU’s Facilities Management approved a hire to support the building needs of ISTB4, the building’s leadership team immediately reached out to Feldhusen because of his unique skill set and his prior experience with the building.

“Unlike all other buildings on ASU’s campus, ISTB4 has precision research infrastructure that is NASA-approved for building spaceflight hardware,” said Chris Skiba, who was Feldhusen's immediate supervisor and the school’s manager of research infrastructure. “The types of labs and clean rooms in ISTB4 require a sophisticated manual and computerized system that Bruce was expertly skilled at managing.”

In fact, Feldhusen's skill at managing the clean rooms became so integral that he was made an official space mission member by Regents Professor Philip Christensen, who leads instruments on NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex, Lucy and Europa Clipper missions.

“Bruce was extremely proud to be a part of the School of Earth and Space Exploration,” said Skiba. “He was particularly honored when Professor Christensen asked him to sign his name to team plaques representing people who worked on those space missions. I will never forget his smile when he felt a part of the team.”

School of Earth and Space Exploration Senior Building Automation Systems Manager Bruce Feldhusen with one of his favorite motorcycles. Photo courtesy of the Feldhusen family

While taking care of ISTB4 was a passion in and of itself for Feldhusen, he was also a master motorcycle mechanic. He could completely dismantle a motorcycle and rebuild it without a manual, YouTube or Google. He loved to tour the country on his motorcycles, and his dream was to tour the Alps someday on his bike.

“And if you were not feeling well, he was also a trained Reiki healer,” said Skiba. “Bruce was not only an amazing colleague, he was a true friend.”