The Honorable Robert J. Ruben, Esq., an attorney and municipal judge, passed away on Feb. 1, 2026, in Mission Viejo, Calif. He was 102 years old.
Bob was born on April 9, 1923, in the Bronx, N.Y., and grew up a block away from Yankee Stadium on Jerome Ave., where he watched 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. He 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.
Bob 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, Bob 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 Chase National Bank in New York City as an executive trainee, and attended Fordham Law School at night, earning 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, where he soon became a partner.
Bob and Audrey moved to Rye in 1965, where they were active members of the community. Bob served as a part-time City of Rye municipal judge. He 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, and her husband, Rob, and grandchildren Caroline and Jennifer, as well as Bob and Audrey’s son, James, his wife, Judi, and grandchildren Eric, Elisa, and Michelle.
Bob is 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. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Maison de Music Foundation or Shriner’s Hospital.
