Nancy Ruth Rubin

1962 - 2020

Rubin, Nancy Ruth

died of a cardiac arrest on Saturday, June 27th, 2020 at St. John's Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. Nancy was deeply loved by everyone who knew her. She spent the last several months of her life in quarantine together with her husband Alex and her sons Nick and Andrew.

On January 21st, 1962, Nancy was born in St. Louis to David Hugh Macdonald and Alberta Rose Schumacher. She is survived by her stepmother, Lauretta Macdonald, along with her siblings Susan Macdonald Bray, Sara Cunningham, Stuart Macdonald, and stepsister Julia Conway. The Macdonald family lived first in Kirkwood, where she attended elementary school, and later moved to a farm in Washington, Missouri, where Nancy attended Washington High School. There she played the flute in the concert band, ran track, and graduated a valedictorian in 1980.

In the autumn of 1980, Nancy attended Stanford University, where she studied Linguistics and received her AB. She was actively involved in Casa Zapata, El Centro Chicano, the Ecumenical Hunger Program, and in supporting various social movements. Studying overseas in both Costa Rica and Vienna, she was also able to travel to the Soviet Union. She spent 1982-1983 at Kansas State University, and is a member of the Stanford class of 1984.

Following her graduation, she began her career as an Administrative Assistant at Washington University in St. Louis. This is where she met Alex, her husband of 31 years, who was attending graduate school. She worked first in the Department of Economics, then at the McKelvey School of Engineering, and finally at the Department of Art History and Archeology, where she worked until her retirement in 2018.

Nancy was an active member of the Eliot Unitarian Chapel community, where her father had also been a member. She was elected to the Board of Directors, and was involved in the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly meeting and events right until the end of her life.

In her retirement, she was able to spend more time doing the things she loved, including traveling, reading, sewing, gardening, and spending time with her family and cat Cassie.

Services: According to her wishes, Nancy was able to donate her organs. There will be a private ceremony held by the family, as well as a full memorial service at Eliot Unitarian Chapel in Kirkwood, in the future when it is possible to safely assemble.