About Edward
Biography
Edward K. Bratton, a well-known supermarket owner in Indiana, touched thousands of lives as a benefactor to Indiana County charities and organizations, established a scholarship endowment at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and was a major contributor to construction of the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex. Bratton was born in Irvona, Clearfield County, in 1928 and came to Indiana in 1950 as a meat cutter at Bill Steiner’s Market in downtown Indiana. He took over the market when Steiner retired, later bought the abandoned A&P Supermarket along South Seventh Street and led its successful and popular transition to Giant Eagle Supermarket.
Bratton organized the annual Grocers Fight Cancer Day fundraising campaigns for the American Cancer Society, and his efforts won the society’s Excalibur Award in 2002 and 2004. Indiana Hospital presented the Benjamin Rush Award to Bratton in 1996. Committed to community organizations serving Indiana County area youth, Bratton earned the William Penn Distinguished Citizen Award for service to the Penn’s Woods Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 2001, and the Chestnut Ridge Council established a summer camp scholarship in his name. He was named to the De Tocqueville Society as a benefactor of the United Way. The Indiana County Chapter of the American Red Cross presented an Exceptional Humanitarian Service Award in 2003 in recognition of Bratton’s 40 years of service to the agency.
His support extended to Indiana Free Library, the Chevy Chase Community Center, the Indiana County Community Action Program’s Pathway shelter, Visiting Nurse Association, Alice Paul House, Luther Ford Charity Golf Classic, Indiana Group Homes, Meals on Wheels and youth-oriented groups such as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Future Farmers of America, Big Hearts Little Hands (formerly Big Brothers Big Sisters of Indiana County) and the YMCA.
Bratton was a founder and the first president of the Indiana County Republican Men’s Club and was named the GOP Man of the Year in 2000. He served Calvary Presbyterian Church in the Diaconate, the Session and the Stewardship and Christian Education committees.
For his service to IUP, including the Crimson Commons Brick Program, Bratton won the university’s Bell Ringer Award. With his business partner, he cosponsored the Edward Bratton-George Hathaway Endowed Scholarship for athletics. IUP named the Edward K. and Joan R. Bratton Athletic Suite in recognition of their support of the Kovalchick Complex. At the university, Bratton was said to have “a heart as big as the KCAC.” Through the Leader’s Circle program, Bratton was named the Male Civic Leader of the Year in 2002 and won the IUP President’s Medal of Distinction in 2011.
Ed Bratton remained a beloved and respected philanthropist Indiana until he passed away in January 2013.