Buddy Ruvelson, visionary businessman

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

By TIM HARLOW, Star Tribune

Last update: October 31, 2009 - 7:26 PM

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.

Recent Obituaries stories

Donna Jackson, scholar of early Italian music - October 31, 2009

Donna Jackson, scholar of early Italian music - The expert on the works of 16th-century Italy taught music history at the University of Minnesota for 38 years. More

Deaths elsewhere - October 31, 2009

Deaths elsewhere - Artist Jeanne-Claude, 74, who created the 2005 Central Park installation "The Gates" and other large scale "wrapping" projects around the globe with her husband Christo, died Wednesday in New York from a brain aneurysm. Their other projects included wrapping the Reichstag in Germany, the Pont Neuf in Paris, and a Roman wall in Italy. AP More