Lillian Rubin, who co-published newspaper in Maywood, is dead at 96 SEPTEMBER 3, 2014, 4:56 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014, 4:56 PM BY JAY LEVIN STAFF WRITER THE RECORD Print Lillian Rubin, who with her husband and co-publisher, Len, covered Maywood like the proverbial dew, died Sunday. She was 96. The Rubins — she studied biology, he studied journalism — moved to Maywood in 1948 and launched a biweekly newspaper, Our Town. After a short while, they ramped up to weekly publication and added neighboring Rochelle Park to their coverage area. They kept at it for 44 years, informing their neighbors of town council matters, church and synagogue events, Women’s Club doings, school lunch menus, Scout activities, wedding anniversaries and the like. Len handled editing and photography and Lil — no one called her Lillian — kept the books and sold ads. In the early years she made the rounds of merchants while pushing a baby carriage along West Pleasant Avenue. “The paper wouldn’t have survived without her,” Len Rubin said of his wife of 73 years. That’s because Mrs. Rubin had a mind for business and a persistent nature. “They probably all agreed to buy ads so she’d stop coming by,” the couple’s daughter, Debbie Ames, said with a laugh. Timothy Eustace, a chiropractor and former Maywood mayor, served with Mrs. Rubin on the Chamber of Commerce. “Lil was friendly, gregarious, lovable and unstoppable — no one could say no to her,” he said. “The Chamber had a sidewalk sale twice a year and Lil would go door to door and make sure businesses were represented at the event, and she’d get all the volunteer organizations involved,” Eustace said. “She was a ball of fire — and truly a mentor when it came to the business district.” Mrs. Rubin was such a Maywood institution that when she was rushed to the hospital with shortness of breath on April 12, 1963, The Record followed with a story. The Rubins retired in 1992, selling Our Town to Kathy and Jim Panos. The newspaper, which still uses its original logo of a sketch of a placid suburban street, is now in the hands of a third set of mom-and-pop owners, Camille and Jim Hornes. The edition that will be published Thursday carries a front-page obituary headlined, “Our Town” Bids Farewell to “Incredible Spirit.” “Lil Rubin’s life story would and could take up a book,” the obituary says. Lillian Perlmutter was born in Brooklyn on Oct. 30, 1917. She graduated from New Utrecht High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College and a master’s from City College. She met Len at his brother’s wedding reception; the Perlmutters were acquaintances of the bride’s family. Len recalled that he was instantly attracted to Lil, “but I had to get rid of one or two” other girlfriends. They married on June 4, 1941. During World War II, Mrs. Rubin worked as a science teacher and medical library assistant in the areas where her husband served stateside in the Army. After the war, Len took a job as editor of the weekly Passaic Citizen. The Rubins’ career as Maywood publishers began with the first issue of Our Town on Oct. 6, 1948. In addition to her husband, who is a month shy of 98, and her daughter, of Broad Brook, Conn., Mrs. Rubin is survived by a son, Ted, of Glen Valley, Calif., and three grandchildren. Services will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Gutterman and Musicant Jewish Funeral Directors, Hackensack. Beginning with the first issue of Our Town, Mrs. Rubin contributed columns under the byline “Lil.” She freelanced in recent years for the weekly Jewish Standard. While admiring Lil as both writer and business manager, Len Rubin said her forte was wife and mother. Throughout her working life, “she would be home at 3 o’clock so she would have a meal ready every night, for the four of us,” he said. “Family was her first concern.” Email: levin@northjersey - See more at: northjersey/news/lillian-rubin-who-co-published-newspaper-in-maywood-is-dead-at-96-1.1080341#sthash.18PKqeoy.dpuf
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 13:41:07 +0000