Obituary —Joseph R. Rubin

Joseph R. Rubin, co-founder and senior partner of Louisville, Ky.-based public finance law firm Rubin & Hays, died Tuesday at his home. He was 87.

Mr. Rubin, the son of immigrant parents from Russia, founded the law firm that bears his name in the late 1960s with his late friend, partner, and former boss Franklin P. Hays. The two practiced law together until each formally retired in 1986.

After obtaining undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Louisville, Mr. Rubin spent his working life in public finance. He is remembered by colleagues for authoring many of Kentucky’s laws in municipal finance, financing mortgage revenue bonds for single-family housing, and facilitating the development of projects across the state.

He worked on hundreds of projects for public schools, private universities, hospitals, and water and sewer systems.

Mr. Rubin took special pride in the work he did to help impoverished rural communities, and appreciated the visible nature of infrastructure development within public finance.

After retirement, he spent his time ballroom dancing, golfing, traveling, dabbling in foreign languages, including French and Russian, and learning how to use a computer.

A colleague described him as “tech-savvy,” noting the law firm had “probably one of the first fax machines in Kentucky.”

Mr. Rubin was also an avid bridge and blackjack player, once authoring an article in the Louisville Lawyer magazine on winning strategies for blackjack.

Mr. Rubin was a member of the Keneseth Israel Synagogue, the Standard Country Club, and B’nai B’rith.

He was born Nov. 7, 1923, and is survived by his wife, Edith Rubin, and their two children. His son, Ronald Rubin, also spent a career in public finance on the underwriting side.

A service is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 16, at 12:00 p.m. at the Herman Meyer Funeral Home, 1338 Ellison Ave., Louisville, Ky.

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