“This gift is a testament to Bob and Joann’s extraordinary generosity, their love of Greater Dayton and their commitment to our community’s future,” Michael M. Parks, president of The Dayton Foundation, said. “The Dayton Foundation is honored to perpetuate the Appenzellers’ spirit of giving through their charitable funds, which will continue helping others for years to come.”
Robert Appenzeller and his wife, Phyllis Appenzeller, passed way in 2022 at the age of 99 and at the age of 95 respectively, but their estates were only recently realized.
Appenzeller, as a third-generation Daytonian, served in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theatre during World War II, then earned a mechanical engineering degree in 1945 from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
In 1948, he made the return to Dayton where he started his career at Delco Products and by 1956, he founded and served as president and CEO of Machine Products Corporation, which distributes specialized equipment and technology worldwide to the electric motor industry, according to the foundation. Joann Appenzeller was a devoted stay-at-home mother and wife of 68 years.
The Appenzellers established the R.C. Appenzeller Family Foundation, a Family Foundation PlusSM fund through The Dayton Foundation to award grants to causes important to them, including youth and education, in 2004.
Now advised by the Appenzellers’ children, Robert Appenzeller, Jr., and Rebecca Cain, the fund has awarded nearly $1.3 million since its inception. Recent grants included $450,000 over three years to Crayons to Classrooms to provide free supplies for teachers of low-income students and $200,000 to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Association to construct a permanent memorial for local fallen deputies and officers, the foundation reported.
“Dad felt giving to the Dayton Foundation was the best way to give back to the region that was so beneficial to multiple generations of Appenzellers, going back to family members who worked as basket weavers in the late 19th century,” Bob Appenzeller, Jr., said. “We are extremely proud of our family’s legacy of giving back to the community that nurtured our success. Thanks to our parents’ gift, the Appenzeller legacy will be projected far into Dayton’s future.”
The Appenzellers also established their first Dayton Foundation charitable fund in 1997 to assist students who are majoring in engineering at an accredited college, university or trade school. More than 400 students have received over $600,000 in scholarship assistance to date, the foundation reported.
The Appenzellers’ annual scholarship was recently made renewable, offering 10 eligible students $4,000 per year for four years to help with rising educational costs.
“Dayton has been good to me and to my family,” Appenzeller said in a 2006 Dayton Foundation publication. “Caring about your fellow man and doing what’s right to help others who are less fortunate, that’s what makes a community. Giving to others simply is the right thing to do.”
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