Born to Bert and Eunice (Burch) Runner in 1923 in Spokane, WA, he was the fifth of their twelve children. His family left Spokane in 1930 to pursue farming in Maryland before moving to Delhi in 1931. He attended The Great Northern Grammar School in Spokane, and graduated from Turlock High School in 1941.
He enlisted in the Army Air Corps where he was selected to be part of the team that inspected the Corps aircraft prior to purchase. While stationed at McClellan Air Force base, Sacramento, he met and married Berenice Arlene Jett, second daughter of Elbert and Alda Jett.
As a civilian employee at Castle Air Force Base, Bruce received two significant awards for inventions that improved safety and efficacy of refueling in flight.
They had three children, all reared on the almond and grape farm between Delhi and Ballico where he lived for 68 years.  He was a long-standing member of the Blue Diamond Cooperative.
In 1970 Bruce married Jolene Neufeld. They shared a passion for rocks and minerals until her death in 2002.
Bruce was inquisitive and never stopped learning.  He opened a rock shop (Turlock Lapidary and Mineral Supply) and was a rare mineral dealer at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show for over thirty years. He was particular interested in the copper-arsenate minerals and the California state gem, benitoite.  He personally prospected many of the finest benitoite and other specimens from California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada.
He was invited to speak at the International Symposium in Sydney, Australia.   He became recognized as a respected mineralogist.
He was a member of the Mother Lode Gem & Mineral Society since 1955.
He was active in the Boy Scouts of America, and served as president of the Yosemite Area Council.  He was a longtime member of the Delhi-Ballico Lions Club where he also served as president.
Bruce is survived by his three children, Diane Lynette (Runner) Wetzel and her husband John C. Wetzel, Brian Lewis Runner and his wife Kaye (Reyburn) Runner, and Elizabeth Ann (Runner) Lowell and her husband, Philip S. Lowell. He left six grandchildren: Daniel A. Wetzel and his wife Amy, Carolyn (Wetzel) Chen and her husband Kevin Chen, Jennifer Runner, Denise Runner, and Logan G. Lowell and his wife, Heidi. He left two great-grandchildren, Sully Wetzel, and Archer Lowell.
He is also survived by his sisters Muriel Brown, Lila Lohman, Jean Bird, Thelma Reinhard, and Wilma Thompson. 
He is also survived by his stepdaughter, Cathy Silva and her husband, Dan, and their three children, five children of his deceased stepson, William Cerruti, and many great-grandchildren.
Preceding him in death were both wives Berenice Arlene Jett and Jolene Neufeld; his parents, Bert and Eunice Runner, brothers Gordon, David and Bryan, and sisters Leatha Howard, Ellen (Peterson) Seaborn, and Ramona Baker.
Bruce will be missed by all who knew him.
A Memorial Service will be held at Samaritan Village, 7700 Fox Road, Hughson on Tuesday,  February 4th at 11:30 am.
Remembrances can be made in his memory to the California State Mining & Mineral Museum Association, PO Box 1192, Mariposa