La Sierra mourns passing of Riverside developer and philanthropist Mark Rubin

At La Sierra University, Rubin chaired the university foundation board for 10 years and he and his wife, Pam Rubin provided their extensive insights and knowledge for philanthropy classes at the Zapara School of Business. The Rubins also magnanimously contributed their financial resources to the business school.

“La Sierra University owes Mark Rubin, its Foundation Board Chair for a decade, a huge debt of gratitude for his faithful service and support,” said Foundation Executive Director Dr. Larry Geraty, the university’s President Emeritus. “Our quarterly board meetings were Tuesday mornings starting with a 7 a.m. breakfast.  Mark uncomplainingly got up early enough at his home in Beverly Hills to make the long drive to Riverside to preside.  I’ll never forget the morning when our board meeting coincided with Holocaust Memorial Day and he told us his amazing story of survival from Terezin. We will miss his quiet humor and leadership by example, but his legacy lives on.”

Rubin took up chairmanship of the university foundation board in 2010 just a few months after Pam took the same position with the University of California, Riverside Foundation Board. The Rubins have been widely known as champions of education and healthcare through their support of numerous organizations around Southern California. Beginning in the 1960s, Rubin’s company developed new housing, shopping and business centers in Riverside including the six-story Citrus Tower office building near the 91 Freeway. The Rubins contributed widely to various entities at the University of California, Riverside including its School of Medicine.

Mark Rubin died Sat., Feb. 13 at age 84. He was born in Czechoslovakia and immigrated with his family to the United States in 1948 after surviving the horrors of a Holocaust concentration camp during World War II. He arrived in California in 1953 after attending school five years in New York City where he worked as a messenger in Manhattan. In the Golden State he worked as a construction site laborer, the starting point for a career in property development. He built his first apartment house in 1958 in Pasadena.

Citing iconic scientist and inventor Thomas Edison, Mark in a 2010 interview attributed his success primarily to hard work and practice of the Golden Rule -- “90 percent perspiration and 10 percent inspiration. What I do isn't rocket science. Do the right thing. Treat people right and they'll treat you right,” he said.

Further information on the life and contributions of Mr. Mark Rubin is available here.