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'Incredible Zest for Life'

Bruce Boehm's love affair with the beach started when he was a teenager. Every summer, he pulled on his swimming trunks and worked as a lifeguard at Nassau Beach, in Lido Beach on Long Island. There was not much money in it, but he just loved being out there.

Bruce, 49, never outgrew that infatuation. Even when he started his career as a financial broker, he continued to lifeguard on weekends for a while. In later years, he trained for marathons and triathlons at the beach, often dragging along his daughters, Brittany, 16, and Stacey, 13.

"He always said, `The beach is my church,' " said his wife, Irene. A born talker, Bruce made friends easily at the beach and elsewhere. At his wife's high school reunion, he danced with more people than she did.

"He had an incredible zest for life," she said. A memorial service will be held Sept. 29 — at Nassau Beach.

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on January 13, 2002.