Brielle Freda Seminerio and Thomas Freda are the dynamic sibling duo leading Brewster Washers, an award-winning manufacturing company based in Fairfield, New Jersey. As President and Vice President, respectively, Brielle and Thomas represent the third generation of their family to steer this historic business, which has been producing premium-quality, American-made custom precision washers, shims, and discs for over 105 years. With deep roots in the company and a shared passion for upholding its legacy, they continue to innovate while maintaining the values and quality that have made Brewster Washers a trusted name across industries like aerospace, defense, and automotive.

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Brielle Freda Seminerio: Thank you for the intro, and thanks for having us! Brewster Washers was founded in 1919 by William H. Brewster Jr. That’s the original name of the company, and it’s also the founder’s name.

He was an inventor, from what we know of the history. He invented a lot of things, but he opened a business in Newark in 1919, where he founded Brewster Washers. It was in a warehouse, and he found a niche in the washers, shims, and discs industry, which at the time was expanding with new technologies and innovations.

Bill Brewster founded the company and later expanded it to Fairfield, New Jersey, where we’re located now. The building we’re in was built in 1957. Unfortunately, Bill Brewster passed away before the building’s completion, but his youngest daughter, Catherine Brewster, was involved in the business and took over.

A few years later, her sister Marguerite Brewster joined her. Marguerite was a music professor at Columbia University at the time—not involved in washers and shims at all! She eventually decided to help Catherine, and together, they ran the business.

Thomas Freda: Then our grandfather, Salvatore Freda Sr., came into the picture. He was a metal salesman at the time and would visit Brewster Washers weekly to buy and sell metal. The Brewsters needed a new foreman and offered him the job. That’s how he got involved.

Brielle Freda Seminerio: Our grandmother also worked there, and later, our father and aunt joined as high school and college students.

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