The
Bremerton, Wash.
Special Section
May, 1987
The Bremer story: [CONTROLLING INTEREST] a city's struggle ｙａｍｾ Ｚ ｾ
26 1987
i
Edward Bremer gave up on life last July, dying alone, Powerless and frustrated, a captive of his own wealth and a victim of a world he no longer could control. The lone survivor of one of Puget Sound's early power families lived out his life in a Seattle apartment furnished with items scrounged from Goodwill or Salvation Army stores. As the last heir of the man who owned Bremerton, he was worth more than $10 million. Yet he dined for years on TV dinners and in the end had little access to his oWn money. The Kitsap County land baron, whose tombstone now rests within yards of Seattle legends named Denny, Yesler and Nordstrom, lived his last days on a food and expense allowance of $360 a month. Those are a few of the multitude of ironies surrounding the man most responsible for making the city bearing his name what it is today. Revealed in recent weeks by the handful of people who knew him intimately during his final years, the picture of the dying Bremer caps a compelling story that until his death could not be told. For seven years, the silence of Bremer and those who knew him left the dying recluse separated from his one-time home by a small sea of water and a vast ocean of confusion and misunderstanding. Bremer had been the crown prince of a family coming closer than any local clan to earning the title "royalty." He grew up in a make-believe world of unchallenged personal and financial power. For most of his life, Ed Bremer had it all. His solitary mission was to hang onto it. But his life outlasted hie; ability to control his own world. and Bremer died with great personal pain. Tbe Ed Bremer story became a sad tale when he left Bremerton in 1900, never to return to the city he loved. It became a tragedy when Bremer lost his long-held grip on all that he was by unwittingly signing away control of his life and empire to people some say he neither liked nor trusted. The last chapter of his story - and much of the hiBtory behind it - has long been sealed from the public eye. Bremer was a private man. Close friends who saw the tragedy unfolding did not speak of it in deference to the man's reclusive nature, which often bordered on obsessive. But Bremer was laid to rest nearly eight months ago. People talk about him now - most with it hint of sadness and a touch of perplexed frustration. Former business associates tell of Bremer's love and total devotion to downtown Bremerton - an attachment so heartfelt that it contributed to, and perhaps even caused, the city's decay to its current antiquated state. They tell of Bremer's yearning to improve his namesake and of his frustration at his inability to do so. Old friends tell of a man beset by a long series of personal tragedies, beginning with the mysterious death of Bremer's father in 1910, continuing in 1952 with the sudden death of the woman he loved, and ending with a long convalescence during which Bremer was left to reflect upon it all. Friends also tell of a domineering mother who/>e intense reaction to the death of her husband shaped the future of the Bremer family, and thus the city it controlled. But the most compelling testimony comes from those who knew Bremer intimately during his last five years - full-time personal nurses whom he came to depend on for medical care and companionship. They tell of a man who fell victim to his own stubbornness and to a new generation of business managers who impatiently awaited his death. They tell of their anger at the current managers of Bremer's property, who they say never slowed down long enough to realize the control they seized may have been the only thing keeping Ed Bremer alive. They tell of Bremer's desires for his inheritance, and how they differ from its current disposition. All of them agree that what happened to Bremer and Bremerton could have been avoided in a perfect world. But a perfect world is not shaped by personalities, emotions and greed. All of them agree that Ed Bremer and his city were far from perfect, and that the mistakes of both can serve as a lesson. ' Most of them agree that his story should be told. It begins on the next page.
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1978: Business Manager Merlin Frohardt and Ed Bremer tour the town.