Moses Falk

Miami County, Indiana’s Jewish Population

Miami County, Indiana, located northeast of the state’s center along the banks of the Wabash River, was organized in 1834 on land purchased by Joseph Holman from the Miami Tribe of Chief, John B. Richardville, in 1830. The Miami moved from their historical home in Wisconsin to central Indiana over a century before Indiana Territory was established in 1800, but lost much of their land through a string of 1830s treaties, starting with the 1834 treaty which dissolved the Eel Creek Reserve and forced inhabitants to move to other land within Miami County. The federal government quickly purchased the newly-available land and started the Wabash-Erie Canal. Peru, the county seat, was established shortly after Miami County, and became the hub of commercial and social activity in the county as those eager to work on the canal or sell goods to the canal workers trickled into the area. The first canal boat arrived in Peru in 1837, followed by additional treaties culminating in the 1840 treaty which forced the remaining Miami to cede their land and leave the state by 1845. This removal opened up Miami County for more development including the Lake and Western Reserve Railroad which reached Peru in 1854.

Miami County’s first Jewish citizen was Moses Falk, an immigrant from Wurtemburg, Germany arrived in Miami County around 1838. Falk was a trader originally based out of Cincinnati who made his living by offering goods to European and American residents, as well as local Native Americans. Falk eventually organized a store known as the “Dutch Grocery” in Peoria, a pioneer Miami County settlement located southeast of present-day Peru, along the shore of Mississinewa Lake. Moses and his brother Loeb were the two of the first three Miami County residents to become naturalized United States citizens after filing naturalization papers in 1844.

In 1850 Moses decided to move to Peru, starting the Falk Store, which he would manage until his death in 1878. His resulting commercial success made Falk “the first Jewish communal leader of importance” in the state, according to the Jewish Post and Opinion.

Falk was soon joined by other men from his native Wurtemburg throughout the 1840s, creating a successful pioneer Jewish community centered in Peru. Early Jewish settlers included the Sterne brothers, the Strouse brothers, and Moses Oppenheimer. Falk originally sent for Charles and Herman Sterne, partnering with the brothers to create the Falk & Sterne Mercantile Firm, which operated from 1850 to 1859.

The Sterne brothers then purchased the Peru Woolen Mill. Falk continued to run a store until his 1878 retirement when he passed the company to his son Julius. Moses Rosenthal, Moses Falk’s nephew, traveled to Peru by foot from Carrollton, Illinois to work as a clerk in his uncle’s shop, eventually starting his own mercantile shop and becoming a partner in the Peru Woolen Mills after giving considerable capital to rebuild the mill after a 1868 fire. The Strouse brothers, Harry and David, also got their start in the Peru Woolen Mill after immigrating from Wurtemburg in the 1870s. They ended up building Peru’s first gas plant to operate with their mill and contracted with the city to provide street lights.

Many of the Jewish individuals in Peru became community leaders by owning successful businesses, undertaking civic enterprises, joining fraternal organizations, and acting on various boards of directors. For example, Moses Falk became the first man to receive a degree from the Miami Lodge No. 67 Free and Accepted Masons.

Julius Falk, son and business heir of Moses Falk, was a member of the Masons, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Red Men, Elks, Eastern Star, Royal Arcanum Maccabees, Foresters, and Ancient Order of United Workman while still finding time to run his store, be part owner of Peru Novelty Works, and serve on the committee to create the Peru Commercial Club.

Julius Falk and Moses Rosenthal were two of the founders of the Miami County Driving Park and Agricultural Society, founded in 1890. Milton Kraus, a local attorney, acted as the Peru Lodge No. 365 Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks’s first Exalted Ruler and was a big proponent of a railroad extension, which would have connected Peru directly to Chicago. David Strouse originally wrote to Andrew Carnegie asking him to help fund a local public library years before he eventually gave the community money.

Some of Peru’s Jews were active in state and national politics. In the late nineteenth century Harry Sterne served as the U.S. consulate to Budapest. Jerome Herff was the Democratic nominee for Indiana State Treasurer in 1896 and 1900. Milton Kraus, a native of Peru and son of Peru Flax Mill owner Charles Kraus, served as the Miami County Chairman in 1910 and eventually represented Indiana Republicans in Congress

Even though most of Peru’s Jewish community met great commercial success in Miami County, the majority of Jews left Peru by the 1930s. By that time, the first generation of businessmen and mill owners who arrived in Indiana during the 1840s and 1850s had passed on and many of the second generation of store owners, who gained success during and between 1880 and 1910, were also retiring from business. Many decided to move to be closer to their children who had left Peru once they reached adulthood.

http://www.in.gov/dnr/historic/files/hp-Miami_County.pdf

Star Tribune - Macy Ruvelson

Aaron Ruvelson, 100, Minneapolis Businessman

Chuck Haga, Star Tribune March 13, 2000 

Aaron (Macy) Ruvelson offered proof long ago that a person could survive cancer.

His colon cancer was diagnosed in the 1940s. In the 1950s, he had to deal with prostate cancer.

He died Sunday, but not of cancer. He was 100, daughter-in-law Sally Ruvelson said, and he just decided it was time.

"He said, 'I look back on my life like a good day's work -- it was done, and I feel satisfied with it,' " Sally Ruvelson said.

"He beat cancer twice, and he decided then to give his body one hour of exercise for every 24 hours of service it gave him," she said. "He went to the boxing gym, and he did long-blade ice-skating. People thought he was strange back then for all the attention he gave to exercise."

He was born Jan. 17, 1900, in St. Paul, the son of Lithuanian immigrants.

"He was most proud of saying that he was an American," his daughter-in-law said, "because he was broke, he was nobody, yet he could make a good living and have all the fruits of being an American."

He owned a business, Macy Signs, in northeast Minneapolis, and he didn't retire until he was 86. In his 80s and 90s, he mentored young businessmen.

"For him, a contract was a shaking of hands," Sally Ruvelson said. "He never had a lawsuit in 47 years of business, and he was proud of that."

He was proud, too, of maintaining good relations with the four unions that represented his employees.

"He thought it was a very good thing that they were represented," she said. "He really believed in the men helping him and him doing the same back."

Survivors include daughters Irene Broom and Ellen DeMuth of Santa Fe, N.M., and 12 grandchildren.

Private family services are planned.

http://www.startribune.com/obituaries/11599601.html

Star Tribune - Buddy Ruvelson

Buddy Ruvelson, Visionary Businessman

Tim Harlow, Star Tribune Updated: October 31, 2009 

He was a founding father of venture capitalism and was a friend to small-business owners and education.

Owners of small start-up businesses found a friend in Alan K. Ruvelson, who for more than 40 years provided capital for scores of companies along with sage advice once they were up and running.

Ruvelson founded First Midwest Capital Corp. in St. Paul in the late 1950s. It was one of the first Small Business Investment companies in the nation to be licensed under a program launched by the Eisenhower administration to funnel capital into promising businesses.

"He was one of the founding fathers of venture capitalism," Samuel L. Hayes III, an investment banking specialist at Harvard University, told the New York Times in April 2000. "He was a visionary."

Ruvelson, known to many as Buddy, died of natural causes Oct. 23 at the Shirley Chapman Shalom Home East in St. Paul. He was 94.

His desire to aid small-business owners, along with his impeccable ethics and ability to get people together, allowed him to take First Midwest public in the 1960s and subsequently to mark up many achievements in the field of venture capital, including the first leveraged buyout and being the first to invest in a software firm, said Steve Mercil, president and CEO of Rain Source Capital in St. Paul.

"He was a pioneer in lots of things the industry takes for granted," Mercil said. "He had values and set the bar high. He was the one you went to for advice, and he'd give you an honest answer."

Ruvelson was a lifelong resident of St. Paul. He graduated from St. Thomas Academy and went on to the University of Minnesota Business School, where he graduated first in his class in 1936. He worked as a salesman for his father's diamond-importing business and did volunteer work for the presidential campaigns of Harold Stassen in 1948 and Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. His work landed him a position as regional adviser for the Small Business Administration, said his son Richard, of Minnetonka.  

Ruvelson, a Republican, was president of National Association of Small Business Invest Companies, the Minnesota Association of Commerce and Industry and served on the state's Economic Development Commission under four governors.

Ruvelson was a strong supporter of public and private education. He sat on the boards of the College of St. Catherine and the College of St. Benedict and was president of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association. He was active with the Minnesota Jewish Council, Mount Zion Temple and Jewish Community Relations Council. For his efforts in business and civic commitments, he was presented with the national Supporter of Entrepreneurship award by Ernst & Young in 1994, honored with the University of Minnesota Outstanding Achievement Award in 2001, and twice was given awards by St. Thomas Academy for his contributions to the school and community. He also was inducted into the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame in 2000. St. Paul named him an "Outstanding Citizen" in 2004.

"He was proud of being able to bring people together, not just in business, but in politics and in the community," Richard said.

His hobbies included riding horses and attending races at Canterbury Park. Ruvelson also enjoyed music, especially opera, his son said.

In addition to his son Richard, he is survived by another son, Alan, of West St. Paul; a daughter, Judie Goldetsky of Minnetonka; a stepdaughter, Connie Schutta of Hillman, Minn.; a brother, Bob of Los Angeles; nine grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Services have been held.     

http://www.startribune.com/obituaries/68071757.html?page=1&c=y