Blue Bell officials have announced the death of Ed Kruse.
For the last year, the 87 year old was chairman emeritus of the company.
Before that, he was chairman for 27 years. And before that he spent 18 years as president.
His fulltime career at Blue Bell began in 1951, two years after graduating from Texas A&M.
Kruse’s first position came at the age of 13, wrapping ice cream sandwiches by hand.
According to the Memorial Oaks Chapel website, the funeral service is Saturday at 2 p.m. at Brenham High School.
News release courtesy of Blue Bell:
It is with great sadness we mourn the loss of one of our own, Ed. F. Kruse. He passed away this morning in College Station, Texas.
His contributions to our company, the Brenham community and so many will never be forgotten. While we mourn the loss of a great man, we also celebrate his remarkable life. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. He will be greatly missed by many.
Ed. is survived by his wife Evelyn, a son and daughter, and numerous grandchildren.
Ed. came to Blue Bell at the young age of 13, working for his father E.F., wrapping ice cream sandwiches by hand. After graduating college in 1949, he initially took a different career path, but returned to Blue Bell fulltime in 1951 at the urging of his father, who was then the creamery’s manager. He became the secretary/treasurer after his father’s death later that same year. In 1968, he was named president and general manager, and in 1986 chairman of the board and chief executive officer. He retired from Blue Bell in 1993. After his retirement Ed. continued as the chairman of the board until 2014.
Outside of his dedication to Blue Bell, he had a strong desire to serve his community and help others. He was active in various organizations including his church, his alma mater Texas A&M University, Dairy Products Institute of Texas, Blinn College and many more.
Biographical information courtesy of Blue Bell:
Ed. F. Kruse was born March 15, 1928, in Brenham Texas. He began his association with Blue Bell Creameries in 1941 at the age of 13, working for his father, E.F. Kruse. He and his brother, Howard, then age 11, made and wrapped ice cream sandwiches by hand.
Mr. Kruse attended Brenham High School and was co-captain of the football and basketball teams. He was senior class president in 1945.
Mr. Kruse left Brenham to complete his education at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. While at the university, he was a distinguished military student in the Corps of Cadets and lettered on the varsity swim team in 1948-49. He graduated in 1949 with a B.S. degree in dairy manufacturing.
Mr. Kruse rejoined the company on a full-time basis in 1951 as manager and secretary/treasurer after the death of his father, who was then the creamery’s manager. In 1968 he was named Chairman, President and General Manager, and in 1986, Chief Executive Officer. In 1993 he moved into a part time role with the company. He served as Chairman of the Board until 2014. During his years at the helm of Blue Bell, he has seen the company grow from selling ice cream to the local Brenham area to a distribution area that includes seventeen states.
Mr. Kruse is married to the former Evelyn Tiaden, and they had four children, two of whom are deceased. They have a number of grandchildren.
Mr. Kruse has served on the Texas Lutheran College Board of Regents and has served as chairman of the Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest. He received a Honorary Doctorate from Texas Lutheran College in 2001. He is a past president of the Brenham Industrial Foundation, Brenham Rotary Club, Dairy Products Institute of Texas, Dixie Dairy Products Association, and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Brenham. He is past Chairman of the Board of MBank in Brenham and the International Association of Ice Cream Manufacturers.
In 1987 he was named Washington County Man of the Year, inducted
into the Texas Business Hall of Fame in 1993, and in 1995 was named Lutheran of the Year by the Lutheran Social Services of the South; and was inducted into the Dairy Products Institute Hall of Fame. In 1998 he received the Soaring Eagle Award from the International Ice Cream Association for service above and beyond the call of duty.
Mr. Kruse received the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award as well as the Association of Former Students Distinguished Alumnus Award. In addition he received the Ruby McSwain Outstanding Philanthropist Award from the National Agricultural Alumni and Development Association.
He has actively supported Texas A&M University over the years through the establishment of Corps of Cadets scholarships, gifts to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, an endowed Chair at the Bush School and regular support for the 12th Man Association. Most recently, he made a significant personal commitment to the renovation of Olsen Field. In 2011 Mr. Kruse was the first recipient recognized for lifetime achievement award from the Texas A&M Letterman’s Association. He was also named as Person of the Year by the Blinn College Ex-Students Association.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON ED. F. KRUSE
Born in Brenham, Texas
Educated in Brenham Independent School District.
Graduated Texas A&M in 1949 with a B.S. Degree Dairy Manufacturing. He was a Distinguished Military Student and lettered on the A&M Varsity Swim Team in 1949.
Blue Bell Creameries – Has worked for 60 years and served as: General Manager, President, Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer, served as Chairman of the Board until 2014, and was Chairman Emeritus at the time of his death.
Past President of: Brenham Industrial Foundation, Brenham Rotary Club, Dairy Products Institute of Texas, Dixie Dairy Products Association, and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.
Past Chairman of Board of MBank Brenham, International Association of Ice Cream Manufacturers, and Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest.
Served on Texas Lutheran College Board of Regents for 10 years and received Honorary Doctorate there in 2001.
Named Washington County Man of the Year in 1987.
Inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame in 1993.
Inducted into the Dairy Products Institute Hall of Fame in 1995.
Inducted into the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets Hall of Honor.
Received the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award in 2002.
Received the Ruby McSwain Outstanding Philanthropist Award from the National Agricultural Alumni and Development Association and received the Association of Former Students Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2005.
Received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Texas A&M University’s Athletic Department in 2011.
Named Person of the Year by Blinn Junior College in 2011.
Was named Lutheran of the Year by the Lutheran Social Services of the South in 1995.
Married with four children, all graduates of Texas A&M University. (Two children are deceased.)
Feature from the Texas A&M Foundation:
The Ice Cream Kings
Ed Kruse ’49 and Howard Kruse ’52 learned Texas A&M’s core values from their father long before they ever stepped foot on the College Station campus. The brothers grew up 40 miles from Texas A&M in Brenham, where their father E.F. Kruse led Blue Bell Creameries for 32 years and set high standards by which his sons and grandson still operate the privately-held company.
Ed served as chairman, president and general manager from 1968 until 1986, when he was named chairman and CEO and Howard was named president. Howard became president and CEO in 1993, and Ed’s son Paul Kruse ’77 assumed the company’s leadership in 2004.
Howard ’52, Ed ’49, and Paul Kruse ’77 E.F. Kruse was the youngest son of a respected farming family descended from German immigrants. The first in his family to attend college, he graduated from Southwest Texas State Normal College in San Marcos. He was a World War I veteran and school teacher before joining the struggling Brenham Creamery Co. in 1919 at age 23. During the next three decades, he transformed Blue Bell from a local butter-making cooperative into a growing ice cream company.
“Blue Bell has been run for 96 years by our family, and it has never lost money, not even during the Great Depression,” said Ed Kruse, who still serves as Blue Bell’s chairman.
“Blue Bell also has never laid off any employees,” added Howard, now president emeritus and a Blue Bell board member. “That has occasionally meant sacrifice. Our father did not cash his first six months’ paychecks, because he did not want to put the company in the red. We couldn’t have inherited any greater direction in life than from him.”
A Strong Work Ethic
Ed and Howard began working at Blue Bell during summers when they were 13 and 10 years old. They earned 10 cents an hour and worked 48 hours per week.
Both Kruses were drawn to Texas A&M because of its agricultural acclaim, particularly in dairy manufacturing. Both were members of the Corps of Cadets, but Ed found his niche on the varsity swim team while Howard was intrigued by dairy science.
As Ed approached graduation, he asked his sister for dating suggestions. She mentioned Evelyn, who was then attending Blinn College and working several jobs in hopes of becoming a registered nurse. After their third date, Ed told his best friend that he was going to marry Evelyn. She graduated from Blinn but decided not to go to nursing school when Ed proposed. The couple has been married for 64 years and has four Aggie children (two sons died at age 45) and 21 grandchildren. In addition to caring for her family, Evelyn has been active in her church and enjoys gardening and saltwater fishing.
Back to Blue Bell
In 1951, after working for two years at Swift & Company in Fort Worth, Ed joined Blue Bell as sales supervisor. When his father died of cancer later that year, Ed succeeded his father as Blue Bell manager. He was 23 years old.
“It was quite a responsibility,” Ed said, “but I knew no one else could do the job, and I was going to give it my best shot.”
Like his father and brother, Howard was also 23 when he joined Blue Bell in 1954 following service in the Korean War. The two brothers worked well together. “Ed handled sales and administration, while I directed operations and research and development,” said Howard. “We were in competition with Borden and other national companies and it was daunting.”
Ed Kruse ’49 back at Blue Bell in 2007. Blue Bell stopped making butter in 1958 when the Kruses began to focus full-time on making the best ice cream in the country. Technological advances in the 1960s led to increased production and sales and the ability to expand beyond the Brenham area.
Besides advancements within his company, Howard experienced a significant personal change. Verlin, an 18-year-old lab technician who went to work at Blue Bell after graduating from high school in nearby Columbus, had noticed that Howard worked all the time and thought he needed a break. She asked him to go fishing with her, and a year later, they married. Much of her 52-year marriage has been spent caring for their four children (three of whom are Aggies), but Verlin also enjoyed leading scout groups, volunteering at church and area veterans’ and medical charities, and painting. The couple has seven grandchildren.
In 1969, after two years of research and development, Howard introduced Blue Bell’s biggest all-time seller, Homemade Vanilla. The flavor he created catapulted Blue Bell to its current ranking among the three top-selling ice creams in the country even though its products are available in only 23 states and less than one-third of the nation’s supermarkets.
“It took several years to develop the proper flavor, ingredients and texture. It was a risk, so we made it in limited numbers at first. Now Homemade Vanilla is the No. 1 vanilla ice cream sold in the nation,” said Howard. “It tastes like ice cream Grandma cranked by hand.”
Looking back on their careers, Ed, 87, and Howard, 84, said it has been rewarding to work in an industry “that makes people feel good” with “the happiest food in the world.” Both have been industry leaders and are members of the Texas Business Hall of Fame and the Dairy Products Institute of Texas Hall of Fame, but they attribute their success to their wives, who they said devoted themselves to their families and homes so they could focus on business. Blue Bell’s success has enabled the Kruses to give back generously to Texas A&M and their community.
The Blue Bell Family
In 2010, the two couples committed $1 million each in addition to a $5 million gift from Blue Bell to complete the $24 million renovation and expansion of Texas A&M’s baseball stadium, C.E. “Pat” Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
“Texas A&M suggested naming it the ‘Kruse Family Park,’ but Ed and I wanted to honor the Blue Bell family,” said Howard. “We’re a family operation, not just because the Kruses have led the company for three generations, but also because of our dedicated employees, who own 40 percent of the company.”
In addition, the Kruses contributed nearly $1 million to provide various agriculture scholarships and faculty fellowships, including an endowed scholarship in honor of their father and three President’s Endowed Scholarships. They also support the 12th Man Foundation, The Association of Former Students and the Corps of Cadets.
In 1998, they jointly contributed $1 million to endow the dean’s chair in The Bush School of Government and Public Service, now filled by Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Subsequent Bush School gifts from the Kruses totaling more than $1 million established a professorship, a scholarship and two fellowships.
The Kruses’ relationship with former President George H.W. Bush dates back to 1994, when a Dallas Morning News profile of Howard and Ed reported who they would most like to invite to dinner.
“I said George and Barbara Bush; my brother said Jesus Christ,” Howard recalled. “President Bush wrote back and said, ‘Barbara and I were flattered to read about whom you’d invite to dinner. But we have a fine idea. How about you all coming to our place sometime for that dinner or lunch? In fact, since it is unlikely that Ed’s favorite dinner guest can make it, except in spirit, bring your brother, Ed, along too.’ ”
Sharing Their Blessings
The Kruses’ belief in philanthropy started with church stewardship and has spread to other areas, said Howard, who along with Ed has been honored as Washington County Man of the Year. They have generously supported area educational, athletic and medical charities as well as Kruse Village, a Brenham retirement community.
“Our family has received so many benefits in business and in this community. We give back with great thanksgiving,” said Verlin. “We feel blessed and want to help others; education is so important,” added Evelyn.
When thinking about the legacy they want to leave, Ed and Howard said they want to be remembered for caring about other people. Like Blue Bell employees dedicated to making excellent ice cream, Howard noted, Aggies are striving to make Texas A&M absolutely the best there is. “We are common folks doing things uncommonly well,” they said.