Dec. 08--Anyone driving along the roads in southwestern Michigan can still see a number of large billboards that feature a photo of Richard Ruby and advertise his services as an attorney. But as devoted as Mr. Ruby was to the legal profession, these billboards represent but one chapter in an active career and life.
Mr. Ruby, 84, died Tuesday, Dec. 2, in Evanston Hospital of complications related to a stroke he suffered in September at the New Buffalo, Mich., home where he had lived for nearly three decades.
"My dad truly had a life well-lived," said his daughter, Donna. "While his family, friends and dogs were his passions, he also greatly loved books, theater and music. One of his favorite singers was Frank Sinatra, and one of the songs he loved was 'My Way.' He surely took that's song's message to heart."
Mr. Ruby was born at Chicago's Grant Hospital on Nov. 9, 1930, one of the three children of Irving and Adelaide Ruby. His father was a car dealer in the West Loop. Mr. Ruby grew up in Chicago and Winnetka before his family moved to the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, where he attended high school.
He then went east to the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate and later received another degree from that institution's Wharton School of Business.
After serving as a lieutenant in the Air Force he met and married Suzanne Selman. The couple returned to the Chicago area and lived on the city's South Side and in south suburban Flossmoor, where they raised four children.
Along with his older brother Robert, he owned and ran a car dealership. Located at 72nd Street and Stony Island Avenue, Ruby Chevrolet became popular in large part because of its catchy "Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby Chevrolet" advertising jingle heard thousands of times on local radio stations.
"I can still hear that tune in my head," said his daughter.
Mr. Ruby divorced his wife and left his daily role in the auto sales business, but kept his hand in even as he entered the legal profession, which he did shortly after getting a degree from John Marshall Law School in 1978.
He would have another child by a later relationship while living and practicing law in New Buffalo. He also taught business and business law classes at Roosevelt University and was an active member of the Chicago Bar Association, as well as similar associations in Michigan and Indiana.
It was there that he also began to express his love of music and theater that had been sparked in his youth. Over the last dozen years he performed in various summer productions at the Dunes Theatre in Michigan City, Ind. Those included parts in the "The Pirates of Penzance," "Jekyll Hyde," "La Cage aux Folles" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
Ruby is also survived by four sons, Ron, Joe, Dan and Noah, and four grandchildren.
A memorial service will be at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Bodhi Spiritual Center, 2746 N. Magnolia Ave., Chicago. Funeral services will be private.
rkogan@tribune.com
