Chapter 4 THE CZAR The Czar was the most politically savvy creature around the growing and thriving Catholic Charities system. He was able to lead but appear to be following, able to take blame but able to place it where it belonged. The way he handled John Bernet in February, 1935, a few months before Bernet's death, is telling of Jones' finesse. Bernet had recently written a letter to board president George Keeley, resigning as a Trustee after 15 years of hard service. He said personal business was just too pressing. A couple of weeks went by. Bernet heard nothing. He must have been mystified that his resignation elicited no response from anyone; he was, after all, a Founder, one of the most important Founders at that. A month went by. Then out of the blue Bernet received a letter from Ray Jones, informing Bernet that he had been named to the Board's endowment committee. Bernet was flummoxed. Why had they not taken his resignation seriously? He had invested too much of himself in the Corporation for levity. Bernet might or might not have known that he would soon be dead, but in any event he had reached the natural end of his road as a volunteer, and the dignity of the event seemingly was being scuttled by bureaucratic inefficiency. He dashed off a letter to Jones, describing the situation and complaining about the lack of attention to detail. It was Jones' turn to be nonplused. He knew nothing of Bernet's resignation. What could George Keeley have done with the letter? Jones scrambled for information. He wrote back to Bernet within days, taking responsibility for the mix-up, but letting Bernet know what happened to his letter of resignation: "PS: George has the largest waste paper basket in Cleveland."