By Christoper Marcisz
Photos courtesy of The Feigenbaum Foundation

The Feigenbaum brothers had a well-tuned sense of how to run a meeting. Armand, the eldest, sat at the head of the table, with younger brother Donald on his left, and Bernard “Bud” Riley, their longtime accountant, beside him. Attorney Emil George sat at the opposite end. Everyone wore a jacket and tie; abandoning the jacket was for the inner office only. Their 90-minute meetings in the early 2000s focused on ensuring The Feigenbaum Foundation’s continuity, with the brothers pressing George—one of the people they entrusted to carry on their work after they were gone—about contingency planning and avoiding mission drift. “They left nothing to chance,” George said.

Today, George is the president of The Feigenbaum Foundation, which oversees millions of dollars in grants to local arts, education, and social service nonprofits each year. While the brothers’ names appear on donor rolls and buildings across the region, the foundation’s success 10 years after their passing was born in the methodical approach of their global consulting business. Centered on “Total Quality Management,” it was a system they theorized and implemented for companies around the world from the 1960s into the 21st century. It was their method for breaking down operations, determining where value was lost, and engaging everyone from top to bottom. Their plan was to apply the same rigor to supporting Berkshire nonprofits and their hometown’s cultural institutions.

Raised on Edward Avenue in Pittsfield during the Depression, the brothers developed the habits of hard work and thrift early. Armand began as a toolmaker for General Electric in Schenectady and, with the company’s support, earned degrees at Union College and later MIT. His graduate thesis became “Total Quality Control,” a seminal book that went through multiple editions and translations. “Quality is neither a department, nor a technique, nor a philosophy,” Armand said in 2001. “It is a fundamental way of managing.”

Don, five years younger, also attended Union and pursued engineering management, while Armand rose at GE to become worldwide director of manufacturing and quality control. In 1968, they returned to Pittsfield to start their own consulting firm, General Systems Company. Their first client, secured on day one, was Volvo. Major corporations followed: Toyota, Toshiba, and Hitachi in Japan; Pirelli, Volkswagen, and Fiat in Europe; and American giants Citigroup, IBM, and Union Pacific.

From their headquarters on Park Square, they built a $20 million a year business. A 1996 BusinessWeek profile noted their aversion to buzzwords and management fads, describing them as engineers solving problems through “roll-up-your-sleeves analysis of each step in a business process.” Armand’s maxim was simple: “Quality is what a customer says it is.”

Armand traveled globally as the company’s evangelist, drumming up more business, while Don managed daily operations and became the local face of the company, serving on various Berkshire institutional boards.

Armand’s book, “Total Quality Control,” began as his doctoral thesis at MIT. It built his reputation in the field, and eventually led to him receiving the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President George W. Bush in 2008.

Neither brother married; as adults, they lived together on Ann Drive. (In their basement, they had an extensive model train set. The core of it was the Lionel train set they had as kids in the 1930s, their most valued possession since money was tight during the Depression.) As they aged, they focused on their legacy and devoted more time to the charitable foundation they started in 1988. They made major gifts to Union College, where two buildings bear their names, and donated $5 million to the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts for the Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation.

Since their passing—Don in 2013 and Armand in 2014—their careful planning has paid dividends. The foundation’s endowment has grown to more than $95 million, and the three-person board, including George and local business leaders Richard Lombardi and Michael Ferry, maintains a careful approach to ensure stability. They support nearly every arts institution in the region, from MASS MoCA to the Colonial Theatre, along with community events like the Pittsfield Fourth of July Parade. In 2023, they distributed approximately $4 million, against $12 million in requests.

Armand’s 1994 reflection on leadership Armand’s book, “Total Quality Control,” began as his doctoral thesis at MIT. It built his reputation in the field, and eventually led to him receiving the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President George W. Bush in 2008. perhaps best captures their philosophy: “A bad leader is somebody from whom the people turn away. A good leader is somebody whom the people turn towards. A great leader is someone of whom the people say, ‘we did it ourselves.’”

For more information about the Feigenbaum Foundation and to apply for grants, visit feigenbaumfoundation.org