Who are the Bolers anyway?  (It’s an interesting story – read on)

Feeling a strong bond to the university, the Bolers have been exceedingly generous, having given over $12 million to the university.  That bond has an unusual origin.  While John Boler was an undergraduate in the 1950’s, the university had an English proficiency requirement.  One of John Boler’s friends had an inexplicable difficulty passing the exam (English proficiency ain’t as easy as it sounds!).  He asked John to take the exam for him, which John agreed to do.  Can you guess what happened?

The deception was quickly discovered by university officials and the School of Business Dean sent John home for a semester.  In re-telling this story, John Boler said of the incident “Dean Graff called me in and asked me to go home for a semester.  He told me that the university would be there for me if and when I returned.  They were very fair about it.  I did return and they were there for me.”  In the process of learning this difficult lesson John Boler realized the true value of education and the value of going to a school like John Carroll University.  When he returned to JCU, he became a model student and a strong advocate for the university.

After graduating, Boler moved quickly up the corporate ladder first at Clevite Corporation and then at Clevite’s parent company, the Gould Corporation.  After he was promoted to vice president of administration and director of South American operations, Boler left the Gould Corporation to start his own company.  After several ups and downs during the early years, The Boler Company is now one of the world's largest suppliers of truck suspensions and other vital components for the transportation industry.

His is a great American success story and just as uplifting is the generosity John Boler and his wife, Mary Jo, have demonstrated toward John Carroll. The $10 million challenge gift the Bolers made to the university in 1996, was only the largest of the couple's philanthropic gifts. The Bolers also gave $1.2 million for renovating the Lombardo Student Center, which is named after Mary Jo Boler’s father.