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.
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