The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mr. Brunsman

The American flag that flies near the ninth green of Western Hills Country Club is at half-staff today. It will remain so through Saturday, when Tony Brunsman - a member of the club for 52 years - is laid to rest.

Anthony Walter Brunsman died Tuesday night at Good Samaritan, the hospital where he was born 73 years ago. He had been admitted earlier that day for tests, and the death was unexpected.

A resident of Delhi Township most of his life, Mr. Brunsman grew up across Cleves-Warsaw Pike from Western Hills Country Club. He was the son of Eleanor and Walter J. Brunsman, one of the members who chartered the club in 1912.

Though a modest man, Tony Brunsman was proud of his west side heritage. The home he built in 1961 opposite the 12th green of the country club was featured in architectural reviews in The Cincinnati Enquirer and other publications.

He was passionate about golf. In his prime, Mr. Brunsman had a 4 handicap - meaning he was a very good player. His trophy case was full. So the 2-foot-tall championship trophy he and Virginia Brunsman won last summer in the country club's Husband and Wife Tournament was displayed on an adjacent table in their home.

Thirty-one years earlier, in 1971, he had won the Western Hills Country Club Family Tournament with his first wife, Sue Ann, and their three sons: Tony Jr., Barrett and Paul. Mr. Brunsman won the club's Partners Tournament in 1957, and he took second place twice in the club championship. He scored a hole-in-one on the country club's fifth hole in 1960.

The nameplate on his locker at the club reads: "Bunny." The nickname was popular among his friends, who were amused by how Mr. Brunsman could wiggle his nose like a rabbit.

Mr. Brunsman was on the board of directors of the country club from 1963 to 1966.

He was president and CEO of Brunsman, Curry & Shepard Inc., a downtown insurance agency, for more than 26 years. He also was an executive with Thomas E. Wood Insurance for 14 years, and he was an insurance agent with The Hartford for three years at the start of his career in 1955. He retired in 1998.

He served on the board of directors of Findlay Savings Bank of Woodlawn (1960-75). Mr. Brunsman was a trustee of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, which oversees the Queen City Metro bus service (1977-84). He was also a trustee of the Cincinnati May Festival Association (1964-67) and a member of the Lay Advisory Board of St. Francis Hospital (1967-74).

Mr. Brunsman had maintained friendships from his grade-school days at Mother of Mercy Academy and St. Xavier High School, where he played football and baseball. He received bachelor's degrees in economics and psychology from Xavier University in 1951 and a master's in business administration from XU in 1955.

During the Korean War, he served stateside as a psychiatric social worker with the Army.

Survivors include his wife of 11 years, Virginia L. Brunsman; three sons, Anthony W. Brunsman Jr. of Southgate, Barrett J. Brunsman of Covedale, and Paul D. Brunsman of Houston; a stepson, Shawn J. Bleh of Indian Hill; three grandchildren; and three step-grandchildren.

Visitation: 5 to 7 p.m. today, Radel Funeral Home, 650 Neeb Road, Delhi Township. Mass of Christian burial: 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Antoninus church, 1500 Linneman Road, Covedale. Burial with military honors will follow at Spring Grove Cemetery, Winton Place.

Memorials: St. Xavier High School, 600 North Bend Road, Cincinnati 45224; or Xavier University, 3800 Victory Parkway, Cincinnati 45207.