Jack Ruby
| Jack Ruby | |
|---|---|
Ruby around 1960
|
|
| Born |
Jacob Leonard Rubenstein March 25, 1911 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Died | January 3, 1967 (aged 55) Parkland Memorial Hospital Dallas, Texas, United States |
| Cause of death | Pulmonary embolism secondary to lung cancer |
| Resting place |
Westlawn Cemetery Norridge, Illinois 41°57′29″N 87°49′37″W / 41.958110°N 87.826853°W |
| Occupation | Nightclub operator |
| Criminal charge | Murder of Lee Harvey Oswald |
| Criminal penalty | Death (overturned) |
| Parent(s) |
|
Jack Leon Ruby (born Jacob Leonard Rubenstein; March 25, 1911 – January 3, 1967) was an American nightclub owner and murderer from Chicago, Illinois, who lived in Dallas, Texas. On November 24, 1963, he fatally shot Lee Harvey Oswald while the latter was in police custody after being charged with assassinating U.S. President John F. Kennedy two days earlier. A Dallas jury found him guilty of murdering Oswald and Ruby was consequently sentenced to death. Later, Ruby appealed his conviction, had it overturned and was granted a new trial. However, on January 3, 1967, as the date for his new trial was being set, Ruby became ill in his prison cell and died of a pulmonary embolism from lung cancer.
Jack Ruby was born Jacob Leon Rubenstein on March 25, 1911 in Chicago as the son of Joseph Rubenstein (1871–1958) and Fannie Turek Rutkowski (or Rokowsky), both Polish-born, Orthodox Jews.
The fifth of his parents' 10 surviving children, growing up in the Maxwell Street area of Chicago, Ruby had a troubled childhood and adolescence, marked by juvenile delinquency and time spent in foster homes. On June 6, 1922, at the age of 11, he was arrested for truancy. Ruby eventually skipped school enough times that he spent time at the Institute of Juvenile Research. Still a young man, he sold horse-racing tip sheets and various other novelties, then acted as business agent for a local refuse collectors union that later became part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).
Since his early childhood, Ruby was nicknamed "Sparky" by those who knew him. His sister, Eva Grant, said that he acquired the nickname because he resembled a slow-moving horse named "Spark Plug" or "Sparky" in a contemporary comic strip. She stated that he didn't like the nickname and was quick to fight anyone who called him that. Other accounts gave credence to the idea that the name was more directly connected to his quick temper.
...
Wikipedia