Robert Joseph Ruben

Obituary: The Honorable Robert J. Ruben, Esq

Robert Joseph Ruben

Born April 9, 1923, Bronx, New York

Died February 1, 2026, Mission Viejo, California

Robert J. Ruben, a respected attorney and municipal judge, passed away in Mission Viejo, California on February 1, 2026. He was 102 years old.

Bob was born April 9, 1923 in the Bronx, and grew up a block from Yankee Stadium on Jerome Avenue, where he was able to watch the greats of the game: including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio, who signed his baseball. (Sadly, the ball went missing during a street game). Bob graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and attended Columbia University, where he earned a B.S degree in 1943 and played football, sparking a lifelong love not just for the game, but for Columbia football in particular.

With World War II in full swing, Bob was allowed to graduate early and enlisted in the U.S. Army, and was sent to basic training in Texas, then Stanford University to study Russian. He was deployed near the end of the war and was originally assigned as a gun runner in the Infantry, but smartly decided to switch to a more administrative position. He was in Germany when the war ended in 1946 and served as a Russian translator, then made his way to Grenoble, France where he studied French at the University and learned how to ski.

Upon returning to the states, he enrolled in Harvard's Graduate School where he earned his M.A. in 1948. He also took a job in the summer of 1947 as a summer camp counselor in Pennsylvania, where he met the love of his life, Audrey Zweig. Two years later they were married.

After graduating from Harvard, Bob joined the Chase National Bank in NYC as an executive trainee, and attended Fordham Law School at night and earned his LL.B Cum Laude in 1953. He passed the New York bar in 1954 and joined Milbank, Tweed, Hope & Hadley as an associate, then was recruited by the prestigious and well-connected NYC firm Shea & Gould in 1955, soon becoming a partner. Bob and Audrey moved to Rye, NY in 1965, where they were active members of the community, and Bob served as a part time City of Rye municipal judge. Bob sat on the boards of many blue chip companies and retired in 1990, when he and his wife moved to California to be closer to their daughter Pam and son Jim.

Bob and Audrey loved their life in California, settling in Mission Viejo. He loved to sail his 19 foot Mariner Snow Cap, and spend time with his daughter Pam, husband Rob and grandchildren Caroline and Jennifer, and his son James, his wife Judi and his children Eric, Elisa and Michelle.

Bob was predeceased by his mother Hannah, his stepmother Kathleen, his father Ira, his sister Diane, his wife Audrey and his son James. He is survived by his daughter, Pamela Golum and her husband Robert Golum, grandchildren Eric Ruben, Elisa Ruben, Caroline Golum, Jennifer Golum and Michelle Van Grouw, great-grandchildren Sophia and Lucas Ruben and Vail Van Grouw, daughters-in-law Judi Weinstein-Ruben and Rafa Ruben, nephews Roy and Bobby Ashton and niece Kathleen Ashton-O'Siadhail.

Services will be private and in lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to https://www.maisondemusicfoundation.org/#/ or Shriner's Hospital.