Bomb Ends Life ‘Finally Coming Together’ Spokane Native In Saudi Arabia About To Be Reunited With His Wife And Settle Down In A Place He Loved

Alaric Brozovsky was about to begin a new life with his family. It was a matter of days before they’d be together again for good.

The 31-year-old Spokane native was living with his 9-year-old son in Saudi Arabia, where Brozovsky worked as a civilian buyer for the Army. His wife, Diane, was planning to join them next month, after she finished chiropractic school in California.

A bomb that exploded Monday in Saudi Arabia destroyed those plans. Brozovsky died in a building filled with U.S. and Saudi military personnel. Six others also died and 60 people were hurt.

The damaged building housed a U.S. program that provides advisers to modernize the Saudi military. Brozovsky was in the cafeteria at the time of the explosion and died instantly, relatives were told.

Brozovsky brought his son, Alaric “Justin” Brozovsky, to Saudi this summer so he could settle in to the new environment. The family planned to be there at least five more years, relatives said.

Justin Brozovsky was at school at the time of the explosion and will return to the United States today, relatives said.

Brozovksy graduated in 1981 from North Central High School, where he was a “no-nonsense” student, former classmates said. His grades reflected it too, as his name always showed up on the honor roll.

Brozovsky sat between Gayle and Mark Slater in a physics class one year, and eventually became a middleman for the couple’s constant notepassing. Six years after graduation, the Slaters were married.

“He had something to do with us getting together so he’s very special,” Gayle Slater said Tuesday. “It’s hard for us to believe someone so gentle and so good could die so violently.”

One of Brozovsky’s favorite hobbies was chess. He treasured the game, the way it demands concentration and commitment.

Many of Brozovsky’s friends and relatives didn’t share his passion for chess - or at least for losing to him again and again. Brozovsky decided that finding an opponent was almost as difficult as mastering the game.

“He was so smart,” said his sister, Joy Edge, who went to NC with Brozovsky. “He was serious and intelligent and quiet, but fun and happy and quick to laugh, too.”

After high school, Brozovsky, the youngest of 11 children, studied outdoor education at Evergreen State College. He met his wife while the two were counselors at a camp in the San Juan Islands one summer.

They were married in 1983 on one of the islands, outside, standing on some rocks. The ceremony was small and the bride and groom wore jeans and flannel shirts.

“It fit them to a T,” Gayle Slater said.

The couple moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, where Brozovsky earned a degree in business management and Justin was born. The family lived in Anchorage before settling in Santa Clara, Calif., where Brozovsky got a job contracting for NASA.

The move to Saudi Arabia was going to be the last for a while, relatives said. Justin was going to school there and Brozovsky couldn’t wait until his wife came, they said.

“It was going well for them because it was finally coming together,” said Joy Edge, who lives in Anchorage.

“He loved it over there.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo