Gerard F. Rubin
Funeral Mass:
Saturday
October 28, 2023
11AM
Regis High School
55 E84th St
New York, NY 10028
Private Cremation
Gerard F. Rubin, who worked as an executive at W.R. Grace & Co. before spinning off its Jones Apparel division to create the Jones Apparel Group in 1975, where he was co-owner and President and oversaw its growth and development as the well-known brand Jones New York, died peacefully in New York City on October 24, 2023. He was 91.
Known by family and friends as Jerry or “Ace,” (and, more affectionately – especially by his 11 grandchildren – as “Skipper”), Jerry was born in New York City on June 6, 1932, to Murray Avram Rubin and Katherine Burns Rubin. He and his three brothers were raised in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. Jerry graduated from Regis High School in Manhattan, a Roman Catholic Jesuit high school, where he was a standout basketball player, and then studied at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City before being drafted into the Army, where he served in France for two years. Upon returning to the U.S., Jerry enrolled at Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL, also a Jesuit institution, where he majored in accounting, played on the basketball team, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. He began his business career at Montgomery Ward; while working there, he earned an MBA from New York University.
Jerry consistently credited his Jesuit education for instilling in him an undying religious faith, critical thinking skills, strong morals and ethics, and a dedication to service for those less fortunate. His devotion to both Regis High School and Spring Hill College was evident in the sustained fund-raising efforts and other volunteer activities he engaged in on behalf of both institutions throughout his entire life; at Spring Hill, he served on the Board of Directors for twenty-five years, including eleven years as Chairman of the Board, after which he was a Trustee Emeritus. Spring Hill named a dormitory on its campus in honor of Jerry and in 1998 awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws.
It was while at Spring Hill that Jerry met his first wife, Elizabeth Williams. They were married and had eight children, whom they raised in Deal and Rumson, New Jersey. The marriage ended in divorce.
In 2014, Jerry married his longtime love Kaye Karch, who as a devoted and loving wife helped Jerry remain active and ever-young at heart.
In addition to his work supporting Regis High School and Spring Hill College, Jerry volunteered his time, talent, and skills for many other causes and at many other organizations, including the local Archcare nursing home Mary Manning Walsh, where he attended daily mass in the chapel.
Jerry’s enthusiasm, vigor, love of life, and warm, indomitable spirit were a treasure to all who knew and cherished him. He had a deep affinity and love for the ocean, where he spent many mornings strolling the boardwalk in Long Branch, NJ, and was an avid walker, logging mile after mile on the trails throughout Central Park. His most profound and enduring love, though, always remained his family — love for his wife, his brothers, his children, and his grandchildren. He will be missed dearly.
As a beloved father, husband, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend, he is survived by his wife Kaye Karch, his children Kathleen, Stacy (Nancy McGinley), Elise, Chrissy, Justin (Tara), and Liz (Jacques Joubert), son-in-law Barry Wallach, his 11 grandchildren (Gregory, Emily, Lindsey, Leo, Luca, Elia, Grace, Annabel, Elle, Cole, and Luc), and his brother Jack. He was predeceased by his son Greg and his daughter Carolyn, and by his brothers Ed and Bob, who all undoubtedly welcomed him through the gates of heaven, along with his closest friends.
A mass of Christian burial will be held on Saturday, October 28, 2023, in the chapel at Regis High School, 55 E. 84th Street, New York, NY, with a reception to follow at Bottega Restaurant, 1331 2nd Avenue, New York, NY. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Little City, Attn: Tina Maraccini, 1610 Colonial Parkway, Inverness, IL 60067 or the Pink Promises Fund at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation at BCRF.org.
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