Rubin Wagner

WAGNER--Rubin, 89. It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of Rubin Wagner, for over 66 years the proud husband of the late Sima Wagner, patriarch of our family and mentor to so many. Ruby lived a life devoted to his wife, his children, Harry and Leon, his daughters in law, Myra and Marsha, and his grandchildren Elliot, Lauren, Gabriel and Daniel. For his dedication to his family, to his friends, to those in need; for his jokes, "have you heard my latest?", for his good humor and love of Judaism and Israel, and for the respect with which he treated his fellow man, rich or poor, Ruby was widely loved by the countless people whose lives he had touched. Born Ruvke Wajner (pronounced Viner) in Vilna, Lithuania, Ruby was the older son of Aron and Sore Chana, both of whom perished in the Holocaust, and brother of Mendel who disappeared into the Ponary forest. At the outbreak of World War II Soviet Russia invaded Vilna and ceded it to Lithuania. On February 20, 1940 at the age of 20, Ruby eloped with the love of his life, Sima Benosher. In June 1941, Soviet Russia annexed Lithuania and closed Jewish institutions. Sima, Ruby and baby daughter, Sheyna, lived together with his parents in a life of relative comfort where their baby's 'feet never touched the ground' from the constant love and attention she received from her grandparents. A year later the Germans entered Vilna. Ruby cared for his family in the ghetto. He survived the war in concentration camps often working as a barber, a skill he had learned in his mother's thriving beauty salon. Ruby was liberated in 1945 unaware that his daughter had perished or that his wife survived. Sima and Ruby were reunited to begin life again, lived in Heidenheim, Germany among many friends, had their first son, Aron (Harry) and in May 1949 set sail for America. Beginning in a railroad flat apartment at 1958 Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn, Ruby did what he had to do to support his family eventually becoming a barber in a shop in the basement of the famous Hearst Building near Columbus Circle. A few years later he had the opportunity to go into partnership to build one single-family house in what was then the farmland of Huntington, New York. He asked the advice of one of his successful clients who told him, 'the barber chair will be here if it doesn't work out.' Founding Ripley Associates and Forest Green Ruby and his longtime business partner, Victor Cynamon, built many homes, developed much property, at one time becoming a large landowner in Huntington. Moving to Roslyn, New York then Aventura, Florida Ruby was always active in his community whether planning cantorial concerts, doing what was needed at his synagogues, or participating in Holocaust remembrance. Throughout his life Ruby was a proud 'Vilner', to him a very special identity. Vilna was an important center of Jewish life, a center of Jewish learning, a nexus of Yiddishkeit. Ruby was one of the publishers of 'Vilna in Pictures' a highly regarded pictorial history by Lazar Ran, the longtime editor of 'The Daily Forward', a project on which he and his colleagues worked for many years. From his youth an aficionado of soccer, Ruby came to love the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Mets. He loved his weekly poker games, vacations in the Catskills; he loved happy occasions, Chivas, and any food that starts with the letter 'a' (as in 'a shtikkele cake, a drink', etc.). Finally, Ruby deeply loved the country that gave him and his extended family the opportunity to rebuild their lives and flourish from the horrors that they had survived. Funeral service will be held on Sunday, March 8th at 12:00pm at Gutterman's, 8000 Jericho Turnpike, Woodbury, NY 11797 P: 516-921-5757. Shiva will be held on Sunday through Wednesday: Sunday and Monday at the home of Harry Wagner 23 Tamara Court, Melville, NY 11747 Sunday: all day, Monday: beginning at 6pm, Tuesday at the home of Leon Wagner, 8 Lincoln Woods Purchase, NY 10577, beginning at 6:00pm, Wednesday at the apartment of Elissa and Great Neck Richman 860 United Nations Plaza, #35A New York, NY 10017, beginning at 6pm. In lieu of food, the Wagners would appreciate a contribution in memory of Rubin Wagner to the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 15 West 16th Street, NY 10011.