History & Founder

“It is not the amount of money you give, but how much you give of yourself.” – Joseph S. Bruno

Since 1985, the Joseph S. Bruno Charitable Foundation has invested in the community with leadership and financial support for educational, health, community needs, and arts organizations. The Foundation is committed to our founder’s legacy and continues to operate as a family foundation with the fourth generation of family members involved in its work.

Joseph S. Bruno

October 3, 1912 – January 21, 1996

Joe Bruno was born in Birmingham on October 3, 1912, the eldest of the eight children of Vincent and Maria Theresa Costa Bruno. His parents had come to America from Sicily in 1909 to pursue their dreams of a better life.

Like many others who came to the United States in the early 20th century, Vincent Bruno found work in a steel mill in the Birmingham area and settled in a small house in a company town near the mill.

To help supplement the family income, twelve-year-old Joe went to board with the Vincent Rosato family and to work in the Rosato grocery store in the mornings before school and after. His wages – $5 a week at the time – went into the family “kitty”.

In the depth of the Great Depression, Joe Bruno’s dream came true. The nineteen-year-old took a chance and used his family’s savings – $600 – to purchase a small grocery store. This Bruno’s Grocery Store, on the corner of Eighth Avenue North and Tenth Street in Birmingham, would have fit inside a modern meat cooler. The family moved into the small living quarters adjacent to the store.

The whole family participated in various capacities in operating the store, but Joe Bruno was considered the head of the family business. He immediately began to initiate some of the revolutionary marketing techniques that eventually resulted in the creation of one of the fastest growing, most profitable, and most innovative food and drug chains in the nation.

By the time of his death in 1996, the Bruno’s grocery store chain had grown to a publicly traded, multi-billion-dollar corporation.

Philanthropic Legacy

Although he was an amazingly successful businessman, it was his generous giving to others that endeared him to the community. His philosophy of philanthropy was “that it is not the amount of money you give, but how much you give of yourself.” He served as a leader in many community organizations and inspired others to join him. His ultimate legacy to philanthropy and public service was to leave a foundation that could carry on his example of giving and serving.

For his varied accomplishments and services, Joe Bruno has been honored by numerous local, state, and national organizations, but Joe always recognized from whom this success came.

“First and foremost, everything we have comes from God. He has blessed us all more than we deserve… all the wonderful things that have happened in our family are only because we believe and have faith in one Man.”

Source of biographical information: Joe: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Bruno Food Stores, by Pat Dunbar, (published by Joseph S. Bruno, 1983).