Rudolph Hurwich
Nov 2, 1921 - Aug 2, 2014
Rudolph “Rudy” Hurwich – entrepreneur, mentor, international businessman, inventor, philanthropist, investor and supporter of numerous liberal causes and creative endeavors – died peacefully at his Oakland home on August 2. He was 92. Rudy was the founder, CEO and Chairman of Dymo Industries, known globally for its hand-held label-making device. From the early ‘90s, Rudy served as co-founder, President, CFO and CEO of Berkeley’s PolyPlus Battery Company, which developed a versatile breakthrough battery technology that Time magazine selected as one of the 50 Best Inventions of 2011.
An MIT-trained engineer, he was widely admired for his expertise as a business officer, negotiator and advisor, and the calm demeanor he brought to all problemsolving challenges. Rudy was well-liked by people in all levels of the organizations in which he worked, and in his personal life for his kindness, thoughtfulness and good humor. Throughout his life, he helped friends and acquaintances seeking his counsel on financial, career and personal difficulties.
Rudy was a board member and advisor or contributor to numerous social-advocacy and humanitarian organizations and other nonprofits that shared his values, among them the Pacifica Foundation, the Fort Mason Foundation, the California School of Professional Psychology and the San Francisco Zen Center. In 1979, he played a key role in bringing to Fort Mason the Zen Center’s celebrated vegetarian restaurant Greens.
His other business ventures ranged from engineering to plant research, aviation, furniture, publishing, real estate and restaurants (including the Coffee Cantata café in San Francisco).
For all of his business and philanthropic accomplishments, Rudy used to say that his proudest achievement was his listing on President Nixon’s “enemies list,” probably due to his leadership role in a national organization of business executives opposed to the Vietnam War.
Rudy’s father emigrated from near Vilnius, Lithuania, from where both sides of his family originated. His parents opened a small department store in Southside Chicago, were Rudy worked as an after-school clerk. Graduating high school early at age 16, Rudy was the first in his family to receive a college education (MIT, class of ’43).
After his service in World War II as a naval officer on the USS Intrepid, he married his first wife, Cecelia Hurwich, with whom he had three children. The family settled in Berkeley, where Rudy started the R. Hurwich Company.
Rudy and his beloved wife, Janet Hurwich, met in 1974. They became inseparable partners in love, family business investments and philanthropy for 40 years. In addition to Janet, Rudy is survived by his children, Barbara (BJ) Hurwich, Gregory (Robbie) Hurwich, Evelyn (Lyn) Hurwich and Nommi Alouf; his grandchildren Jon Nichols, Eliana Hurwich-Reiss and Theodore Schulman; his great-granddaughter Alana Nichols; his cousin MeraLee Goldman; his niece and nephew Linda Hurwich Mendelson and Daniel Hurwich; and five great nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by two younger brothers, David and Saul Hurwich.
His family plans a celebration of Rudy’s life on October 19 in Oakland. Visit http://hurwich.com to RSVP and to read more about Rudy. The family would appreciate acts of kindness in Rudy’s memory and/or donations in his name to the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the MIT/ Rudolph Hurwich (1943) Undergraduate Scholarship Fund or the San Francisco Zen Center. (See http:// hurwich.com for donation addresses.)