he Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation (f. 1987) was established in Cleveland, Ohio, through the estate donations of Joseph M. Bruening (1896-1987) and his wife Eva L. Bruening (d. 1987). Joseph M. Bruening founded the Ohio Ball Bearing Company in Cleveland in 1923. The company's primary business was the distribution of replacement parts for cars and trucks and power transmission components. As industry began using more individual motors to operate machinery, Ohio Ball Bearing focused on industrial customers for its replacement bearings. The company established Ohio branches in Youngstown and Cincinnati in 1927 and opened its first mechanical shop, Spindle Repair Laboratory in Cleveland in 1948. Ohio Ball Bearing merged with Pennsylvania Bearings, Indiana Bearings, and West Virginia Bearings to form Bearing Specialists, Inc. in 1952. In 1953 the company became publicly owned and began trading on the American Stock Exchange under the name Bearings, Inc.
Bearings, Inc. continued to expand and prosper under Bruening's leadership. Dixie Bearings, Inc. was acquired by Bearings, Inc. in 1957. Bearings, Inc. acquired additional companies in Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and Arkansas in 1960. Some of these were merged into the Dixie Bearings subsidiary while others ultimately formed a new subsidiary named Bruening Bearings, Inc. In 1967 Bearings opened a West Coast Division. Bearings, Inc. opened its first distribution center in Cleveland in 1972, the same year it broke the $100,000,000 mark in sales. Bearings, Inc. sales topped $200,000,000 in 1977. The company's success was largely based upon its coverage of the twenty-five states where approximately eighty percent of American industry was located. In 1980, John R. Cunin became the first new president of Bearings, Inc., since the company's founding in 1923, and Joseph Bruening became the company's chairman. That year the company entered the New England market. When Bruening was appointed honorary chairman in 1983, Bearings had over 250 branches nationwide. After Bruening's retirement, Bearings, Inc., continued to acquire additional companies and increase sales to over a billion dollars annually. The company changed its name to Applied Industrial Technologies in 1997 to reflect its diverse products and services in original equipment manufacturing and for the maintenance, repair, and operations market. Applied Industrial Technologies is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Joseph Bruening was active in charitable and community causes throughout his life, and his charitable interests are reflected in the giving guidelines of the Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation. He was a founding member of Bluecoats, Inc. and a former director of the Rotary Club of Cleveland. He served on the boards of the DePaul Maternity Home, the American Cancer Society, Notre Dame College of Ohio, and the Society for Crippled Children. He also served as a trustee of the Cleveland Zoological Society and St. Vincent Charity Hospital. He volunteered much of his time to Catholic Charities Corporation, serving as a trustee from 1952 to 1982 and as an honorary trustee thereafter. The library at St. Mary Seminary, the headquarters of the Cleveland chapter of the American Red Cross, and a wing of the Business School of John Carroll University were dedicated in honor of Eva and Joseph Bruening. The Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation is an independent foundation which provides grants to agencies in the greater Cleveland, Ohio, area. With assets of $73 million and grant distributions of $4.8 million in 1999, the Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation was one of the top twenty foundations in northeast Ohio. Its founding distribution committee members were Robert Blaine, John Cunin, and Raymond Robertson. E. Lorrie Robertson joined the distribution committee in 1988 after the death of her husband, and Anne Blaine and Marilyn Cunin joined the board in 1992. The distribution committee underwent further change when Robert Blaine died in 1992, John Cunin died in 1993 and John Favret joined the board in 1995. In 2000, members of the distribution committee were Marilyn Cunin, Anne Blaine, John Favret, and E. Lorrie Robertson. Key Trust Company of Ohio is the trustee of the foundation. Janet Narten has provided consulting services to the distribution committee since 1988 and has served as president and executive director of the foundation since 1995. The foundation's focus areas are education and social services with an emphasis on care for the elderly, disabled, and disadvantaged. The distribution committee has funded proposals in the fields of early childhood education, primary and secondary education, higher education, domestic violence and child abuse prevention, human services, and children and youth services. These programs have included services to minorities, women, people with AIDS and Alzheimer's disease, and the homeless. Hunger programs and services to the mentally ill have also been foundation priorities. The foundation gives grants for capital campaigns, equipment purchases, program development, seed money requests, and requests for matching funds. The foundation will not give money to individuals, and while it has given grants in the past for operating support, research, publications, and annual campaigns, it no longer does so. Special consideration is given to Roman Catholic organizations and institutions that provide these types of programs and services. The distribution committee works closely with the Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland and Catholic Charities Corporation to identify appropriate diocesan programs for foundation funding. The foundation has funded the Catholic Charities Corporation annual campaigns and initiatives on parish collaboration, programs for the Hispanic community, and programs for the elderly. Independent Roman Catholic organizations such as the Saint Augustine Corporation, St. Vincent Charity Hospital, Malachi House, Rose-Mary Rehabilitation and Education Center, St. Vitas Church, The Vincentian Sisters of Charity, and Our Lady of the Wayside have been given funding for health and social service programs for the elderly and disabled. Catholic education has been funded through grants to the Ursuline Nuns of Cleveland, the Benedictine Order of Cleveland, Notre Dame College of Ohio, John Carroll University, St. Ignatius High School, Walsh Jesuit High School, Regina High School, Beaumont School, and the Diocese of Cleveland. Domestic violence programs provided by the Hitchcock Center for Women, East Side Catholic Shelter, and Federation of Catholic Community Services have been provided with funding as well. Services for youth have been funded through Parmadale Children's Village of St. Vincent de Paul. The foundation also funds the programs of Christian organizations such as Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry Association, Samaritan Counseling Center, Christian Family Outreach, Lakewood Christian Service Center, and West Side Ecumenical Ministry. Numerous secular and governmental organizations are provided with funding for these types of programs as well. The Inner-City School Fund of the Cleveland Development Foundation, the Rotary Club of Cleveland, the Neighborhood Centers Association, Cleveland Health Education Museum, Bellflower Center for Prevention of Child Abuse, and the Center for the Prevention of Domestic Violence have been past grant recipients.
The Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation Records, 1987-1999, consist of agendas, budgets, correspondence, financial statement, grant proposals, memoranda with attachments, minutes, newspaper clippings, photographs, press releases, publications, reports, and trust disbursement authorizations.
This collection is of value to researchers studying the history of charity and philanthropy in Cleveland, Ohio, during the late twentieth century. Those interested in Roman Catholic social service and educational programs will find these records useful. Researchers will find significant documentation of the giving patterns of the Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation. Those interested in social services, health, and educational programs for the elderly, disabled, and disadvantaged will find these records valuable. These types of programs include nursing home improvements, community outreach activities, domestic violence and child abuse prevention, and children and youth services. Researchers studying services to minorities and women, people with AIDS and Alzheimer's disease, and the homeless will find this collection valuable. Hunger programs and services to the mentally ill have also been foundation priorities, and there is documentation of these efforts in the collection. This collection also contains descriptions and reports of programs in the fields of early childhood education, primary and secondary education, and higher education.
The collection is arranged in two series reflecting general original order.
The researcher should consult MS 5089 Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation Records, Series II; and MS 5473 Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation Records, Series III.
Processed by Margaret Burzynski-Bays in 2001
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4846 Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation, 2000
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.