Shirley W Ruttenberg

Shirley Wilsker Ruttenberg was born on December 14th, 1924, in Detroit, Michigan, to Pearl and Isadore Wilsker. She joined her older sister Judith, and according to her sister, she became the son her father had always wanted, and accompanied him to baseball games and on car rides. Shirley graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1942 and went on to study at Wright Junior College (now Wright Community College) before attending the University of Chicago. She graduated with both Bachelors and Masters degrees from the Booth School of Business in 1947, and one of her fondest memories was being invited, as a junior, to be a Student Marshall, described on the U of C website as “one of the highest honors the University awards to undergraduate students.” This honor enabled her to march in the 1946 Commencement procession alongside University President Robert Maynard Hutchins.

Shirley Wilsker and Jimmy Ruttenberg met in elementary school when they were in a student play together; Jimmy played a poet and Shirley played a little bird. Shirley married James J. Ruttenberg on June 20th, 1948, and returned to Wright Junior College as a member of the faculty, teaching typing, shorthand and business skills to returning GIs. Jim and Shirley executed their 5-year plan: Shirley worked while Jim attended DePaul University, became a Certified Public Accountant, and launched his career. Jim attended classes during the day; Shirley cooked and left dinner for him and went off to teach evening classes, and Jim returned home to eat and study solo. Once Jim’s career was launched they were ready to start a family, and in 1953 Richard was born, followed three years later by Joan.

Shirley was a loving homemaker for many years in Skokie and Wilmette. In 1969, the family welcomed 17-year-old Rodrigo Garreton, a Chilean exchange student, who fit seamlessly into the household and who, along with his wife Maria Teresa (MT), became an integral part of the Ruttenberg family. In 1970, Shirley returned to the world of paid work. For more than 15 years she deployed her fantastic organizational and analytic skills, and developed new ones, in a variety of roles including executive secretary, focus group leader, and research librarian for a forensic engineer. As technology advanced she kept up, happily emailing and creating Excel spreadsheets to track their social life. Well into her 90’s she still used her shorthand to take quick notes and mark up her calendar.

Shirley was an avid tennis and golf player, and stayed incredibly fit well into her 90’s. She loved to travel, whether accompanying her sister Judith on international trips or taking meandering driving trips with Jim, stopping at golf courses, college campuses and favorite restaurants along the way. She was astonishingly good at crossword puzzles, working patternless puzzles well into her 80’s and dumbfounding everyone with her ability to nail arcane words in the New York Times Sunday puzzle even after turning 100.

Shirley loved her children, her son- and daughters-in-law, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren. She often told each of us how proud she was of us, and that all she wanted for us was that we be healthy and happy, and enjoy our lives.

Shirley died peacefully at home on Friday, April 18th, 2025. She leaves her son Richard Ruttenberg and daughter-in-law Susan Marder; her daughter Joan Ruttenberg and son-in-law David Abromowitz; her adopted son Rodrigo Garreton and daughter-in-law MT Garreton; her grandchildren Madeleine, Sophie and Emily Abromowitz, Monica Garreton Chavez and grandson-in-law Eliezer Chavez, and Amanda Garreton Gull and grandson-in-law Sebastian Gull; her great-grandchildren Sofia and Pedro Chavez; and her beloved nephew and his wife David and Sheila Daskovsky.

We were incredibly lucky to have this smart, funny, feisty, loving woman in our lives for so long, and we will miss her dearly. Service to be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations in Shirley’s memory can be made to the Defend Democracy Fund at Force Multiplier (www.forcemultiplierus.org/democracy) and to PFLAG NYC (www.pflagnyc.org/donate/).