Joseph Sunnen
Founder
Sunnen Products Company
Laureate 2006
Joe Sunnen was born the son of a poor coal miner in Thayer, Illinois. Joe was always more interested in building things than playing sports. At age 12 he saved the life of a friend, who had accidentally grabbed an electric fence, by knocking the wire out of his hand. Joe had to quit school in the 7th grade to help on the family farm. At age 17 he purchased a Missouri lead mine with family savings. However, the venture failed, forcing Joe to work in his brother’s automobile garage in Mexico, Missouri. Joe applied for his first of nearly 100 patents, a valve lifter tool, at the age of 21 and a year later came to St. Louis to earn enough money to build that invention. His dreams, however, were delayed when a work explosion nearly claimed his life. Severely burned over most of his body, and after a year of painful recovery, Joe had no money and returned to work in his brother Gus’s garage. There he met and married Miss Cornelia Miller. A year later they moved back to St. Louis to resume his dream and manufacture his valve lifter tool. Again however, hardship faced Joe when a malfunctioning machine cut off the ends of three fingers. Adversity never stopped Joe, and in 1924 he converted a 1916 Hupmobile into a camper and set out on the road to sell his invention. Despite being a terrible salesman, the tool sold itself and a fledgling Sunnen Company was off to a roaring start. After the explosion, Joe said: “If I live, I will devote myself to mankind” and he did just that giving 50% of his annual company income to charity. Joe’s generosity helped to create the YMCA’s Camp Lakewood and Trout Lodge. Through his Sunnen Foundation, millions of dollars have been given to support many worthy causes. Joe lived by the premise that making money only makes someone the custodian of wealth. It is what a person does with their wealth, to help humanity, that is most important.
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