Self-described "St. Paul guy" Sherman Rutzick rose from selling candy on the streets as a kid to franchising coin laundromats to designing development deals that helped shape the city for 60 years.
Rutzick died Sunday at 92 at Sholom Home in St. Paul. His sons say their father watched baseball Saturday night and apparently died in his sleep.
Mayor Chris Coleman, who worked many projects with Rutzick as a council member on the West Side, described Rutzick's life as a "reflection of St. Paul" with his immigrant roots and up-by-the-bootstraps determination. "He succeeded by working hard and making lots of friends," Coleman said.
The mayor and family members described Rutzick as a hugely generous man who loaned money to troubled friends and loved real estate, politicians and baseball. He recently had been caring for his wife of 70 years, Margine, who has dementia.
His son Steve, a lawyer, said he often meets people who knew his dad and say, "'He's one of the nicest guys I've ever known.'"
"I can't tell you how many times I got that."
Said Mark Rutzick, his youngest son: "He was an incredible guy who was always happy to help people."
The elder Rutzick, at 22 years old in 1941, was leasing the ground floor at 251 E. 5th St. selling parking stalls for $4 a month. In a corner, he set up shop selling fan belts, washers and dryers. Rutzick grew up on the West Side flats after his father Louis fled the pogroms and emigrated from Lithuania in 1902.