Emanuel Bronner
Emanuel Theodore Bronner (born <phonos file="Emanuel Heilbronner.ogg">Emanuel Heilbronner</phonos>,[1] February 1, 1908 – March 7, 1997) was the maker of Dr. Bronner's Castile soap.[2] Bronner, whose parents were killed in the Holocaust, promoted a belief in the goodness and unity of humanity.
History
Bronner was born in Heilbronn, Germany, to the Heilbronner family of soap makers.[3] He emigrated to the United States in 1929, dropping "Heil" from his name. As his father was Jewish, he pleaded with his parents to emigrate with him for fear of the then-ascendant Nazi Party, but they refused. His last contact with his parents was in the form of a censored postcard saying, "You were right. —Your loving father."[4]
Career
He started his business making products by hand in his home. The product labels are crowded with statements of Bronner's philosophy, which he called "All-One-God-Faith" and the "Moral ABC".[5] Many of Bronner's references came from Jewish and Christian sources, such as the Shema and the Beatitudes; others from poets such as Rudyard Kipling. They became famous for their idiosyncratic style, including hyphens to join long strings of words and the liberal use of exclamation marks.[6] In 1947, while promoting his "Moral ABC" at the University of Chicago, Bronner was arrested while giving a lecture for speaking without a permit and committed to the Elgin Mental Health Center a mental hospital in Elgin, Illinois, from which he escaped after shock treatments.[1] Bronner believed those shock treatments caused him to go blind.[7]
After moving his family several times, he settled in Escondido, California, where eventually his soap-making operation grew into a small factory. At his death in 1997, it produced more than a million bottles of soap and other products a year, but was still not mechanized.[8] The firm has been the subject of many published articles and has supported many charitable causes.[8]
Legacy
After Bronner's death, his family continued the business.[9] They have said the labels he wrote will not change except when required by government regulations.[3]
His life was the subject of a 2007 documentary film, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox.[10][11]
References
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