CRi Announces Launch of Jack Bruggeman Tuition Assistance Fund

On February 20, 2020, CRi President and CEO Arthur Ginsberg announced a new fund that will provide tuition assistance and reimbursement to CRi employees pursuing advances in their education. This fund will further support the CRi Tuition Reimbursement Program with the goal of encouraging and supporting employees who want to advance in the human services profession by earning a certification or license in the field or a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral human services degree from an accredited college or university.

The Jack Bruggeman Tuition Assistance Fund was developed in honor of CRi Board Chair Jack Bruggeman and reflects his commitment to the ongoing education and training of CRi employees in the field of human services. 

About Jack Bruggeman

A native Washingtonian, Jack was born December 4, 1952, at Georgetown University Hospital, son of the late Robert Leo Bruggeman and the late Lois Dane Bruggeman (neé Walters), formerly of Alexandria, VA. He was a graduate of Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria and earned a B.A. degree in US history from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary.

Jack enjoyed a 38-year career in professional reference and college textbook publishing, specializing in health care, and worked for publishers such as Prentice-Hall, Medical Economics, Little Brown & Company, and Aspen Publishers. He acquired and developed print, online, and video training products in a variety of disciplines including clinical medicine, nursing, home health care, physical and respiratory therapy, speech-language pathology, and pharmacy. He retired in 2016 from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, in Bethesda, MD, where he had worked for 11 years as director of special publishing. While there he received the Phil Naut Associate Member Award from the Pharmacy Technician Educator’s Council in recognition of his contributions to pharmacy technician education.

As an “encore” career in retirement, Jack and his wife, Paula, combined their lifelong love of books and book collecting with his sales and publishing experience to launch an independent antiquarian bookselling business, Ayr Hill Books, which they have operated since 2017. They expanded from online bookselling to selling directly to the public and the trade, exhibiting at numerous antiquarian book fairs in Boston, Brooklyn, New York City, Richmond, VA, and Washington, DC.

In addition to his professional career, Jack was a long-time advocate for citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In the course of 13 years, he served in various capacities on the board of directors for Central Fairfax Services (CFS) in Springfield, VA, including chairman, treasurer, and vice chairman. He led an ad hoc committee that oversaw the affiliation of CFS in 2010 with Service Source, a regional nonprofit association serving individuals with intellectual and development disabilities. He served as a member of Service Source’s board of directors from 2010 to 2017. In 2015, he was elected to the Board of Directors at CRi. At the time of his death in 2020, Jack served as chairman of the CRi board of directors and chair of its Foundation Board.

In 2016, Jack was appointed by then Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to a four-year term on the Virginia State Board for Behavioral and Developmental Services, a policy-making body authorized to set policy for the State Department of Behavioral Health Disability Services, state health facilities, and Community Service Boards. Upon his resignation from the Board due to his recent illness, Jack received a special resolution from the Board honoring his service, as well as a letter from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, thanking him for his advocacy for improved mental health and disability services in Virginia.

Donate to Make a Difference

Visit The Jack Bruggeman Tuition Assistance Fund page to learn how you can help support our employees and their education! Donations in support of the Jack Bruggeman Education Fund are tax deductible.