NEW ORLEANS -- Ruth Fertel, who mortgaged her home on a hunch that she
could run a restaurant and then watched it expand into the worldwide
chain of Ruth's Chris Steak Houses, died Tuesday. She was 75.
Fertel, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2000 but
remained active until she was hospitalized Friday, said William Hyde
Jr., president and chief executive of the company.
"She was a very classy example of the American dream," said former
Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, a frequent diner at Fertel's restaurants.
"She was also someone that every politician in this state knew and
respected."
The original Ruth's, founded in New Orleans in 1965, became a favorite
gathering place for politicians, sports figures, businessmen and media
personalities. The recipe was simple: sear the best corn-fed beef she
could buy at 1,800 degrees and serve it in a comfortable atmosphere.
Soon there was a Ruth's in Baton Rouge, and it emerged as the place to
find legislators and lobbyists.
"Countless deals have been done in her restaurants," Edwards said.
Fertel admitted her chain was an unlikely success story. She was born in
New Orleans in 1927 and earned a physics degree at Louisiana State
University. She taught college briefly, married and re-entered the work
force 14 years later as a laboratory technician at Tulane Medical School.
By then divorced, Fertel was afraid she would not earn enough to send
her two sons to college. She found an offer in the classifieds to buy
the Chris Steak House in New Orleans.
She had no experience in the restaurant business, but mortgaged her home
to buy the steakhouse.
"To show you how naive I was at the time, I was ready to borrow only the
$18,000 required to buy the restaurant, but the bank suggested I take an
additional $4,000 to buy food and supplies," Fertel once said.
Her recipe for steak and atmosphere took off. The chain has 36
company-owned restaurants and 46 franchised locations in the United
States, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Taiwan.
According to the company's latest figures, the restaurants sell about
14,000 steaks daily and grossed more than $320 million in 2001. Since
1999, majority control in the company has been held by Chicago-based
Madison Dearborn Partners. Fertel and her family remained minority
partners.
In 1999, Fertel and a friend spent more than $500,000 to build a
mausoleum at Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery, and she unveiled it with a
party that was remarkable even by New Orleans standards. At the time,
one guest described the deep-burgundy facade as being as richly marbled
as a Ruth's Chris steak.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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