Lt. Col. George Cecil Rubenson Jr. Ph.D.

1939 - 2020

Lt. Col. George Cecil Rubenson, Jr., Ph.D.

Salisbury - George Cecil "Bits" Rubenson, Jr., of Salisbury, Maryland, 80, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force and associate professor of management in the Perdue School of Business at Salisbury University, passed from this life on February 25, 2020. He was diagnosed with cancer in December of last year and died peacefully at home with his wife of 58 years, Nancy, by his side. He was cared for in his last weeks by family, friends, Coastal Hospice and Visiting Angels of Salisbury, Maryland.

"Bits was a good man who wanted to do his part and do it well," said family friend Wyman Harris of Tiburon, California. "He had no pretensions and little ego - his goals in life were simple: to marry Nancy Kawasaki, support his family, do good work, contribute to his community - and drive interesting cars. He succeeded on every count. It would be hard to find an example of a life better lived."

Bits - a nickname given to him early in life by his big brother, Jim Rubenson, of Bay Village, Ohio - was born on April 15, 1939 in Warren, Ohio, to George C. Rubenson, Sr., an executive at the Ohio Edison electric utility and Alma Sophia Rogers Rubenson, a schoolteacher from Morgantown, West Virginia. The family moved in 1941 to Elyria, Ohio, where Bits graduated from Elyria High School.

Bits often described an idyllic Midwestern childhood, bicycling around town, coming home from school for lunch, and playing catch with friends in the street after dinner while the grown-ups sat on porches listening to Cleveland Indians ballgames on the radio.

In the summer of 1956, he attended a church youth conference at Defiance College in northwest Ohio, where he met his future wife, Nancy Kawasaki, of Brownhelm Township - one of eleven children of Shigewo "Happy" Kawasaki, a hotel chef in Elyria who immigrated to the U.S. from Japan in 1917, and his wife, Maggie Wright Kawasaki. Bits and Nancy dated through high school and college at Miami University in Ohio, and married on June 17, 1961 in Vermilion, Ohio. They have two sons - Paul, now a museum exhibitions and collections manager in Baltimore; and Todd, a communications executive in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"Dad lost his mother to cancer when he was 14, so when he met Mom a couple years later, she really filled a void in his life," said Todd. "He fell in love immediately, and that love deepened over the many decades of their marriage. Theirs was a beautiful relationship to have as an example - they both grew and changed throughout their lives, but always put their marriage and our family first - and that's what made it work."

After graduating from Miami, Bits received his officer's commission in the U.S. Air Force and went to Brookley Air Force Base in Mobile, Ala. He started his career in telecommunications, and later moved into manpower management. Over a 21-year military career, he and Nancy lived in Alabama, Germany, Ohio, Delaware and Washington, D.C. He retired from the Air Force in 1983.

Following his military career, he received his Ph.D. in management in 1989 from the College of Business and Management at the University of Maryland and then joined the faculty of the Perdue School. He won numerous teaching awards during his tenure at Salisbury, served as associate dean and interim dean of the business school, and was a great ambassador for the Perdue School to the rest of the campus and the community.

"According to his closest colleagues (aka 'the lunch bunch'), George's true passion was teaching," said Dr. Frank Shipper, who taught with Dr. Rubenson for 14 years. "When engaging his management students, he modeled the importance of listening, and always imbued the business curriculum with a deep sense of personal responsibility, ethics and humanity. He simply believed there was a right way to conduct oneself, in business and in life - and he wanted his students to really understand that."

A lifelong car enthusiast, Bits's most notable restoration project was a 1936 Packard 120 he discovered as a wreck in 1974 - an almost exact match to his father's car when he was growing up in WWII. He restored the car from the ground up, while Nancy sewed new wool upholstery to match the original. Bits held leadership roles in car clubs in Dover, Delaware and Salisbury, and was editor of the Glass & Brass newsletter of the Eastern Shore Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America.

"Dad's automotive interests were eclectic yet always particular," said older son, Paul. "He deeply appreciated good design, regardless if a car were sporting or utilitarian, domestic or foreign, new or old. He expressed his passion for cars as he did in all things - with care and effort, and by supporting fellow enthusiasts and organizations."

Bits was a 30-year member of Asbury United Methodist Church in Salisbury, and sang tenor in church choirs throughout his life. Active in many church and community activities, he served in a variety of leadership roles for Salisbury Urban Ministries, including as chair of the Parish Council.

While his career took Bits and his family around the country and the world, he found a special place they returned to again and again throughout his adult life: Crystal Lake, near Frankfort, Michigan. In the 1980s, the Rubensons and their Ohio friends the Scherers together built a cottage on the lake nicknamed "The Schrubery." You could find Bits at any time sitting on the deck, drinking his bottomless cup of coffee and reading the paper - and doing his best to stay out of the lake's clear, ice-cold waters.

The family wishes to express its gratitude for the love and support shown to Bits and his loved ones during his last weeks of life. In lieu of flowers, donations to Coastal Hospice & Palliative Care of Salisbury or Salisbury Urban Ministries in Bits's name are welcome.

A memorial service to celebrate Bits's life is scheduled to be held at Asbury United Methodist Church in Salisbury on April 18, 2020 at 11 a.m.; those wishing to attend should check the church website for updates related to the coronavirus outbreak. The service will be video recorded for friends and family who cannot attend the service in person.

In addition to his wife, two sons and brother, Bits is survived by Jim's wife, Joan Rubenson, and their extended family; daughters-in-law, Lisa Rubenson of Charlotte and Trish Bright of Baltimore; and four beloved grandchildren: Blaine, Sophia, Evyenia and Ivan - whose middle name just so happens to be… "Bits."