The chip-collecting world was stunned early morning on Friday, December 20th, 2002 when they turned on their
computers to learn that one of the pillars of the hobby had collapsed the night before while attending a
company Christmas party with his co-workers. By the time the para-medicals, after being summoned to the
party via a 911 call, had reached the restaurant where the party was being held … Bruce was already gone.
A mighty Oak has fallen in the heavily wooded forest of chip collectors. This oak tree was so huge that its
roots, branches and leaves affected untold numbers of nearby trees of all sizes. Much older trees, younger
trees, and even small saplings were dramatically affected by the falling of such a huge dependable mainstay
of the forest. The upper branches on this tree were so high above all the trees surrounding it, that it could be
seen from as far away as the outer edges of the forest.

This huge tree did not fall un-noticed. The shock waves that trembled the forest floor were felt from coast
to coast … hundreds and thousands of miles away.

During its lifetime, this tree bore many acorns which dropped from its sturdy limbs, from which sprang up
hundreds of smaller trees and provided much nourishment in the way of food for many creatures scurrying
about the forest.

Bruce Landau was like that mighty tree. His strong family roots that absorbed nourishment from his wife
Eileen and sons Jason and Mike, and daughter, Jodi, supported the rest of the tree from which we as
collectors benefited from Bruce’s strength, friendship and comrade. Bruce was the proverbial tree of
knowledge. His sharing of anything and everything he knew about chipping is the standard that we should
all try to emulate. Many adjectives have been used to describe Bruce. Caring, giving, generous, humorous,
affable, gregarious, gentle, smart, enthusiastic, positive, humble, etc.

Bruce only got one shot at life after his mother, Emily, gave birth to him in 1946. Most adults in their
middle years, usually get a wake up call before they exhaust their final breath. Single; double; triple; even
quadruple bypass operations are not uncommon in today’s medical miracle world. People recovering from
these serious operations usually go on with their activities and resume productive healthy lives.
Unfortunately for Bruce, he never got that second chance. He was instantly taken from us as soon as he fell
to the floor during that fateful day on December 19th, 2002 after walking off the dance floor with his everpresent
wife, Eileen. In spite of a couple of doctors’ presence at the company Christmas party Bruce and
Eileen were attending, they were unable to revive Bruce’s failed heart.

Bruce Landau was my inspiration to forming what we know today as the Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens
Collectors Club. Bruce, along with Janice O’Neal, Michael Knapp, Earl Donley, Howard Herz, and a small
handful of others, were simply a few chip collectors who regularly corresponded with each other during the
late 1980’s. We thought that we were the only crazy people in the world who would not cash in chips and
tokens from our visits to casinos but instead take our treasures back home with us to add to our collections.
It wasn’t too long afterward that we discovered other people who were as crazy as we were. When it was
suggested that a club be formed in 1988, it was no accident that Bruce became Charter Member #002 after
agreeing to serve as Treasurer. He was there from day one, ever the optimist, all the time pushing for a
nationwide club of chip and token collectors.

Bruce’s stories are legendary. Like when Bruce used to trade chips with other collectors simply by
measuring up his stacks of chips on the kitchen table against whomever he happened to be trading with. No
attention was paid to the denominations… just the evenness of the tops of the stacks. Of course that was a
different time and different circumstances that we knew back then. Chuck Tomarchio, Bruce’s successor as
Treasurer, at the club’s 2002 convention annual banquet presented Bruce with the very shoe box that Bruce
had stored all the receipts and bills and scrap paper from his Treasurer’s days for the club. After Bruce’s
terms of office were over, he continued to be active in the club by serving as the convention’s Auction
Chairman. His quick-wit and charming smile would win over the most grumpiest of floor bidders. Bruce
had the uncanny ability to predict in advance how much the prices realized for the annual convention sales
gross. Usually Bruce’s guestimate was within a few hundred dollars. During the break at one of the
earliest convention auctions held at the old Aladdin Hotel & Casino, Bruce leaned over to me and said,
“Archie, I can’t believe the prices these chips are bringing. We’re rich!” Of course he was referring to the
value of chips in our personal collections that few of us had really thought to be overly valuable at the
time… and that ended the trading by the stack scenario I described earlier.

From chippers early on, to the most recent chippers just joining the club, virtually all are eager to tell stories
about how Bruce was the first person they traded chips with, and how generous he was with them. He truly
loved people… not only people in the hobby, but his co-workers have nothing but glowing words to say
about Bruce. Bruce was a unique person with a unique personality. Men like Bruce Landau come along
only once in a lifetime.

Bruce was a dependable, hard-working, mainstay of the Atlantic City Chapter, where he also served as
Auctioneer … a job he loved to do. Bruce always had time for the new-comers who eagerly solicited his
advice … as did the veteran collectors as well, who would seek out Bruce’s opinion on values of rare or
seldom seen chips. When I would ask Bruce for a price on one of his chips… Bruce would say something
like; “well, I normally would get $100 bucks, but for you … make it $65. I found out later that Bruce did
that with almost everybody… that was part of Bruce’s congeniality trait. Always the smile, always the
laugh, life was just a bunch of fun for Bruce. His wife Eileen was always at Bruce’s side, like they were
joined at the hip. Eileen told me at her surprise 50th birthday party that Bruce threw for her at Trump
Marina, that she and Bruce were soul-mates … and their deep love for each other was obvious everywhere
they went. They were an inseparable couple.

Bruce became involved in several disputes among club members in which he served in the role of peacemaker
to resolve differences between members… not in any official club capacity, but simply as one who
took it upon himself to make peace among chippers He had a deep love of the hobby, and did not like
anyone taking advantage of anyone else and encouraged everybody to get along with each other.
Bruce and another well-known departed club member, Gene Grossblatt, were the motivating forces behind
initiating the CC>CC Hall of Fame… without question, the highest honor the club can bestow upon
individual members for meritorious service. Gene and Bruce were responsible for setting up and
administering the HOF program, and when Gene passed away, it became the sole responsibility of Bruce to
continue the program. Bruce Landau; always the un-assuming guy to give recognition to others would not
take any credit for himself. Now Bruce is gone.

Bruce Landau died just a few days short of his 56th birthday … far too young for a man who just became a
grandfather a year ago, whom his grand daughter Emily (named after Bruce’s mother) will never remember.
The hobby will never be the same without him. Bruce was robbed of his quality adult years in the prime of
his life as he looked forward to a well deserved retirement with his beautiful high school sweetheart, Eileen
… and the hobby was robbed of a man who gave us his all … and who had so much more to offer.

We are all saddened by the sudden loss of this giant of a man. However, life goes on in the forest.
Hopefully, some of the seedlings that Bruce has nurtured and guided will grow to be huge oaks in their own
way during their years growing in the forest.

Rest in peace my good friend. Those who were a part of your life will always remember you and your
infamous shoe box. There will never be another tree quite like Bruce.