Dan Ruby was a talented individual, with many interests and special abilities for music and writing, and a contagious joie de vivre.
After college, he worked editing science and tech literature in NY and Boston, and then was hired on the West Coast, where he edited MacWorld and other publications in the thick of the burgeoning tech scene there, as his older brother Walter wrote recently, remembering him. When we reconnected about 15-20 years ago, I recall him reminiscing about finding himself in a jacuzzi in a S. Cal spa in the 80s or 90s with Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and other tech wizards.
Later he founded a website about musical festivals, festivalpreview, and subsequently embarked on historically researching his parents’ rich family histories, which led him to genealogy, with which he has been active the last several years.
The three Ruby children (his younger sister Joanne also survives him) had a very rich legacy. Their father, Stan, a NYC native, graduated from Columbia with a PhD in physics. They moved to Glen Ellyn in the early sixties when Stan began working for Argonne National Laboratory – he later held a position at Stanford.
Dan’s mother had been born into a wealthy Jewish factory owner’s family in Berlin, and lived through the rapidly worsening conditions for Jews in the 1930s there. She was able to attend the 1936 Olympic games, secretly rooting for Jesse Owens. The family began making preparations to leave Germany, but in 1938 Helga’s father died from a sudden infection, and his junior partner ran off with the company funds. Helga, an only child and 14 years old, then fled Germany on a 3-year odyssey with her mother and her aunt, bribing the SS and hiring smugglers to make it to Belgium, who nearly raped Helga’s mother. They spent over a year in France before finally making their way to Lisbon and later a boat. Through a series of fortunate circumstances and sheer grit they were among the small number of Jewish refugees from Nazism allowed in to the US.
Dan moved from Pittsburgh to Glen Ellyn in time for the sixth grade at Glen Oak. We were best friends that year and played on the same baseball team, the Senators. My family moved away from Glen Ellyn for a couple of years after that, but when I came back for sophomore year at Glenbard, we were close again. Dan was the main editor of the Glenbard Free Press, which we published a few issues of that year. We worked together in high school organizing demonstrations against the Vietnam War and for the extension of free speech at Glenbard. Dan was very popular, he was elected to student government – treasurer, I think. He certainly enjoyed partying, but he had a lot of serious pursuits, too. In college we soon lost track of each other.
When I reconnected with him in the late 2000s, not only was he organizing his music festival website, but was part of a bluegrass band that cut at least one CD and was playing on a team in a tennis league (I think he had played tennis for Glenbard, too).
As with many of our classmates, he has departed before his time. According to Walt, he had many plans, including a book on their family history. He leaves behind a daughter, Twyla, who, like her grandfather, also graduated from Columbia. The family is planning a memorial with friends in October in Oakland.
I remember working with Dan to bring comedian/activist Dick Gregory to speak in Glen Ellyn. We had a group we called Change Through Understanding, something we still need in our current times. Thank you Derek for providing your portrait of Dan. I remember working with you too on social and political issues.
My somewhat vague recollection of Dan mirrors that of others. We weren't friends, although our beliefs aligned, but he seemed mature beyond his years. It's not surprising to see the details of his success as he made his way through the adult world.
I just read Derek's comments on Dan Ruby. What an impactful life he lead to the fullest. The part about his mother in Germany was very interesing to me. Growing up in Glen Ellyn it's hard to imagine events like that ever happening. The scariest thing I remember is having bomb drills at Benjamin Franklin School where we had to crawl under our desks for protection. I am so thankful to have shared life with all of you in our wonderful community. You all have had a positive influence on my life!!!
I'm so sorry to hear about Dan's passing, too, and I really thank Derek for his description of Dan's incredible life. I was part of the group of kids working on what we might call social justice issues while in high school and I think that impacted my adult life profoundly. Dan was certainly a leader of that group. I can picture him in front of us sitting on the hill the day we walked out in protest of the bombing of Cambodia and Kent State murders. He and I both attended Grinnell College for a few semesters, and he was a part of a group of us who dropped out and spent a few months in San Francisco, where we had our first adult jobs, lived in our own apartment, and went to many performances of the Grateful Dead, whose members, especially Jerry Garcia, played with pick-up bands in small clubs all over the Bay Area - I counted 20 or more performances! Eventually we all went back to college and got on with our adult lives. I touched base with Dan a few times over the years, but it's probably been 10 years since my last email exchange with him, so I was especially touched by Derek's account of his life. He truly was influential in my life.
Many thanks Derek, I appreciate the time you spent sharing your memories of Dan. It is sad to lose a good friend and classmate. I remember well the protests and the walking out of the school and sitting on the hill in front the school. Dan was gutsy and steadfast in his beliefs and his passions were infectious and positively influenced me and so many others during our time at Glenbard and obviously for the entirety of his life. RIP Dan.
Derek Jeffers just alerted me to the following obituary that Dan's family posted online:
Daniel Ruby Obituary
Daniel Jonathan Ruby
12/12/1952 - 07/28/2025
Dan Ruby, retired magazine editor, avid puzzler, pickleball player, loving father and die-hard Pirates fan died peacefully at his home in Piedmont, CA, at the age of 72.
Raised in Pittsburgh and Chicago, Dan attended Grinnell College and the University of Illinois. He launched his career in NYC and Boston, later becoming a key figure in the fast-developing San Francisco dot.com boom as an editor for magazines including MacWeek and NeXTWORLD. Following his passion for Jewish genealogy, he later developed the website Family History Machine, a storytelling platform for genealogists.
Dan was blessed with boundless curiosity and a hopeful, reflective spirit. He is survived by his daughter Twyla Ruby, sister Joanne Ruby, brother Walter Ruby and nieces and nephews Zachary, Elana and Eugene. A private memorial will be held by his family. Contributions in his memory can be made to JewishGen.org.
Marsha Virene (Matthews)
I'm so sorry to hear of Dan's passing. I didn't know him, but he sounds like a really nice guy. I wish I would have known him.
Derek Jeffers
Dan Ruby was a talented individual, with many interests and special abilities for music and writing, and a contagious joie de vivre.
After college, he worked editing science and tech literature in NY and Boston, and then was hired on the West Coast, where he edited MacWorld and other publications in the thick of the burgeoning tech scene there, as his older brother Walter wrote recently, remembering him. When we reconnected about 15-20 years ago, I recall him reminiscing about finding himself in a jacuzzi in a S. Cal spa in the 80s or 90s with Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and other tech wizards.
Later he founded a website about musical festivals, festivalpreview, and subsequently embarked on historically researching his parents’ rich family histories, which led him to genealogy, with which he has been active the last several years.
The three Ruby children (his younger sister Joanne also survives him) had a very rich legacy. Their father, Stan, a NYC native, graduated from Columbia with a PhD in physics. They moved to Glen Ellyn in the early sixties when Stan began working for Argonne National Laboratory – he later held a position at Stanford.
Dan’s mother had been born into a wealthy Jewish factory owner’s family in Berlin, and lived through the rapidly worsening conditions for Jews in the 1930s there. She was able to attend the 1936 Olympic games, secretly rooting for Jesse Owens. The family began making preparations to leave Germany, but in 1938 Helga’s father died from a sudden infection, and his junior partner ran off with the company funds. Helga, an only child and 14 years old, then fled Germany on a 3-year odyssey with her mother and her aunt, bribing the SS and hiring smugglers to make it to Belgium, who nearly raped Helga’s mother. They spent over a year in France before finally making their way to Lisbon and later a boat. Through a series of fortunate circumstances and sheer grit they were among the small number of Jewish refugees from Nazism allowed in to the US.
Dan moved from Pittsburgh to Glen Ellyn in time for the sixth grade at Glen Oak. We were best friends that year and played on the same baseball team, the Senators. My family moved away from Glen Ellyn for a couple of years after that, but when I came back for sophomore year at Glenbard, we were close again. Dan was the main editor of the Glenbard Free Press, which we published a few issues of that year. We worked together in high school organizing demonstrations against the Vietnam War and for the extension of free speech at Glenbard. Dan was very popular, he was elected to student government – treasurer, I think. He certainly enjoyed partying, but he had a lot of serious pursuits, too. In college we soon lost track of each other.
When I reconnected with him in the late 2000s, not only was he organizing his music festival website, but was part of a bluegrass band that cut at least one CD and was playing on a team in a tennis league (I think he had played tennis for Glenbard, too).
As with many of our classmates, he has departed before his time. According to Walt, he had many plans, including a book on their family history. He leaves behind a daughter, Twyla, who, like her grandfather, also graduated from Columbia. The family is planning a memorial with friends in October in Oakland.
Sylvia Woods
I'm sorry to hear of Dan's passing.
I remember working with Dan to bring comedian/activist Dick Gregory to speak in Glen Ellyn. We had a group we called Change Through Understanding, something we still need in our current times. Thank you Derek for providing your portrait of Dan. I remember working with you too on social and political issues.
George Carlisle
My somewhat vague recollection of Dan mirrors that of others. We weren't friends, although our beliefs aligned, but he seemed mature beyond his years. It's not surprising to see the details of his success as he made his way through the adult world.
Jean "Frosty" Pengelly (Lay)
Thanks Derek for posting this background on Dan and his family.
Frosty .
Marsha Virene (Matthews)
I just read Derek's comments on Dan Ruby. What an impactful life he lead to the fullest. The part about his mother in Germany was very interesing to me. Growing up in Glen Ellyn it's hard to imagine events like that ever happening. The scariest thing I remember is having bomb drills at Benjamin Franklin School where we had to crawl under our desks for protection. I am so thankful to have shared life with all of you in our wonderful community. You all have had a positive influence on my life!!!
Margaret Madden
I'm so sorry to hear about Dan's passing, too, and I really thank Derek for his description of Dan's incredible life. I was part of the group of kids working on what we might call social justice issues while in high school and I think that impacted my adult life profoundly. Dan was certainly a leader of that group. I can picture him in front of us sitting on the hill the day we walked out in protest of the bombing of Cambodia and Kent State murders. He and I both attended Grinnell College for a few semesters, and he was a part of a group of us who dropped out and spent a few months in San Francisco, where we had our first adult jobs, lived in our own apartment, and went to many performances of the Grateful Dead, whose members, especially Jerry Garcia, played with pick-up bands in small clubs all over the Bay Area - I counted 20 or more performances! Eventually we all went back to college and got on with our adult lives. I touched base with Dan a few times over the years, but it's probably been 10 years since my last email exchange with him, so I was especially touched by Derek's account of his life. He truly was influential in my life.
John Simanton
Dan is one of all to many whom I didn't know but wish I had!
Anthony Capps
Many thanks Derek, I appreciate the time you spent sharing your memories of Dan. It is sad to lose a good friend and classmate. I remember well the protests and the walking out of the school and sitting on the hill in front the school. Dan was gutsy and steadfast in his beliefs and his passions were infectious and positively influenced me and so many others during our time at Glenbard and obviously for the entirety of his life. RIP Dan.
Scott Zapel
Derek Jeffers just alerted me to the following obituary that Dan's family posted online:
Daniel Ruby Obituary
Daniel Jonathan Ruby
12/12/1952 - 07/28/2025
Dan Ruby, retired magazine editor, avid puzzler, pickleball player, loving father and die-hard Pirates fan died peacefully at his home in Piedmont, CA, at the age of 72.
Raised in Pittsburgh and Chicago, Dan attended Grinnell College and the University of Illinois. He launched his career in NYC and Boston, later becoming a key figure in the fast-developing San Francisco dot.com boom as an editor for magazines including MacWeek and NeXTWORLD. Following his passion for Jewish genealogy, he later developed the website Family History Machine, a storytelling platform for genealogists.
Dan was blessed with boundless curiosity and a hopeful, reflective spirit. He is survived by his daughter Twyla Ruby, sister Joanne Ruby, brother Walter Ruby and nieces and nephews Zachary, Elana and Eugene. A private memorial will be held by his family. Contributions in his memory can be made to JewishGen.org.