Helping Hands

Something much more formidable than coal has come from Pennsylvania's dusky anthracite region.

For former Proctor & Gamble and Exxon (later ExxonMobil) executive Edward B. Berninger, MBA '55, growing up in the hardscrabble communities of Scranton's Wyoming Valley in the 1930s and 1940s instilled in him a deep-seated work ethic that took him from rural parochial high school to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); to the United States Army (where some of his work under a top-secret "Q" clearance supported Los Alamos); to Harvard Business School; and, finally, to coveted positions at two of the nation's corporate behemoths.

Of his days at MIT, where he earned his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering, Berninger is quick to affirm that when all was said and done, what he truly learned was how to think.

"Computers were not yet invented," he says, recalling that rather than focusing on dissecting yesterday's problems, the coursework placed great emphasis on anticipating the future and preparing to solve those problems. "(School) wasn't a cookbook . . . you didn't just memorize formulas," he says.

His MIT and Harvard credentials aside, Berninger credits a long stint as a mess hall officer in the U.S. Army with his proclivity for management—one that translated well to corporate life.

"I did the scheduling and paperwork for 25 to 30 privates, corporals, sergeants, a master sergeant, the mess sergeant . . . it was a real lesson in management and personnel," he explains.

By the time his daughter, the Rev. Caroline Berninger, was born in 1961, Berninger had relinquished the role of mechanical engineer to enter the brave but complex new world of mainframe computers. He traded in his work at Proctor & Gamble for the nascent information technology field at the former Standard Oil Company, which, through a series of mergers and acquisitions, eventually became Exxon and ExxonMobil.

His wife, Carol, a Wellesley College graduate, and his daughter in tow, he held appointments across Europe and the United States before settling in New Jersey, headquarters of Exxon's Corporate Computer Center.

While Berninger's father, also an engineer, had passed on to his son a predisposition for science, a previous generation of Berningers had defined itself in more spiritual terms.

Berninger's maternal grandfather was a Welsh Baptist minister who emigrated to the United States in the 1880s, preaching in the coal mines of Pennsylvania.

"He would preach the morning service in Welsh and the evening one in English," Berninger says.

Though he, his wife, and his daughter have been members of the United Church of Christ, where he has also served as a church officer, Berninger admits his primary interest was singing in the choir: he never felt called upon to take up his grandfather's torch in matters of faith.

"Caroline's religion was a complete surprise," Berninger says, referring to his daughter's decision to attend Harvard Divinity School and her ultimate ordination in the United Methodist Church.

An introvert who describes her own faith as a "slow growing process," the Rev. Berninger graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College, intending to pursue an academic career and going on to teach middle school Latin and English in Virginia. Subsequent summer language courses at HDS helped lead her to investigate theological studies, with the Divinity School affording her the opportunity to pursue both religious and secular academic pursuits.

Rev. Berninger admits to being surprised when her mother, Carol Berninger, began graduate studies at Drew University—34 years after earning her undergraduate degree from Wellesley and the same year Caroline enrolled at HDS. A 330-page dissertation preceded Carol's doctorate in nineteenth-century studies. Carol Berninger, who died in December 2008 after a long illness, continues to serve as an inspiration for her family.

Today, the retired Edward Berninger serves on the board of the local Red Cross, is a noted baritone in his church choir, and is certified in tax consulting for the elderly.

"I've always been very conscious of taxes, contributions, and deductions," he says, explaining his decision to support The HDS Fund—the annual fund of Harvard Divinity School, which furnishes essential, unrestricted funding to meet the School's most urgent needs—since 1999; his daughter is also an HDS Fund donor.

By availing himself of the ExxonMobil Foundation's Educational Matching Gift Program, which matches donations from Exxon employees, retirees, and surviving spouses, Berninger emphasizes the importance of supporting the Divinity School because of the integral work its graduates do—work, he understands well, that does not tend to reap stratospheric salaries.

Caroline Berninger adds, "If you're going to continue to have a good faculty, a good facility, a good library . . . and recognizing how expensive it is to go to graduate school and that some have elected to carve out a second career in this manner and continue to raise their families while doing so . . . the debt burden so many have taken on now is scary. People who can help should help."

—Beth A. Herman