Howard and Myra Brembeck Professorship in Moral Philosophy

It has been the good fortune of Goshen College to have entered into a relationship of mutual respect and enrichment with Howard and Myra Brembeck.  For a period of nearly 20 years, Goshen College has found the Brembecks to be unusual people, motivated by the highest ideals of honesty, industry, adventurous courage and Christian compassion.

Howard and Myra Brembeck are Hoosier natives.  He was born in Wabash, IN and became familiar with the northern Indiana area by spending summers at the Methodist campground on Lake Wawasee.  Myra was born in Louisville KY, but as a child moved with her family to Wabash County.  The couple met at an Evangelical United Brethren Church in Urbanna Indiana where both of their families attended.  The Brembecks were married in 1933 and lived in Manchester for ten years before moving to Goshen in 1954.

They have one daughter, Caryl who lives near Lansing, Michigan, two grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Howard can be described as an internationalist, inventor, industrialist and astute businessman.  The company he founded in 1954, Chore-Time and Brock Inc. – a producer of grain bins and feeding and watering equipment for swine and poultry – does business in more than 100 countries from its headquarters in Milford, Indiana.

Having been introduced to the Brembecks by Frank Yoder, attorney, during the period of the cold war, Goshen College President J. Lawrence Burkholder enjoyed conversations with Brembecks about a broad range of issues of a religious, moral and philosophical nature.  Early in the acquaintance, Howard and Myra expressed concerns about the possibility of total nuclear destruction.  While on a vacation to Europe, Howard reflected about the tragedy of World War II as represented by graves marked by many white crosses.  He had a “vision” of a peaceful world which would be achieved by principles of national cooperation and collective disciplines analogous to those operative in the industrial world in which the Brembecks were deeply immersed as founders of Chore-Time Brock, Inc.

Howard and Myra continued to think about the destructive power of atomic weapons and the possibilities of peace through the lawful use of sanctions against aggressor nations.  The concept of sanctions became the root idea of a developing comprehensive theory called “the civilized defense plan” which has, in subsequent years, been developed and tested under the auspices of the Fourth Freedom Forum which Howard and Myra founded to perpetuate and to elaborate an alternative to traditions of war and to encourage nuclear disarmament.

During the course of their friendship, Howard expressed interest in the field of moral philosophy, a discipline taught at Goshen College by Lawrence Burkholder.  He appreciated moral philosophy as a search for governing principles which would bring under systematic control one’s understanding of reality.  Howard, himself, had thought long and wisely about what is good and what is right during his career as an industrialist.  This appreciation led him to found a professorship in the field of moral philosophy for which Goshen College has been most grateful.

As Burkholder’s tenure as president came to a close in 1984, he continued to teach moral philosophy to an enthusiastic generation of students.  Upon his retirement, moral philosophy was taught by various professors of religion and philosophy.  A close friendship between the Burkholders and Brembecks continues to this day.