Career
He left school in the 7th grade to help on the family farm. In 1923, at age 21, Sunnen applied for his first of nearly 100 patents, a valve lifter tool, marking the beginnings of Sunnen Company. However that same year he was nearly killed in a work explosion which burnt most of his body, and spent a year recovering.
They moved to Saint Louis to pursue Sunnen"s manufacturing ambitions in 1924.
There Sunnen converted a 1916 Hupmobile into a camper and set out on the road to sell 500 of his new valve lifter tools. They sold two or three tools a day until they reached Mankato, Minnesota where a large distributor of shop tools bought his remaining stock and placed an order for 1,000 additional tools.
Following the trip Sunnen returned home to build his manufacturing business around the auto engine rebuilding trade. The Sunnen Company grew to become a renowned global manufacturer of precision honing devices, and holds a position of global prominence to this day.
In 1946 Joseph Sunnen made a generous donation to the Ozarks Young Men’s Christian Association, and subsequently formed the Sunnen Foundation for further charitable projects.
