Robert Milton Ruch ’45

Bob entered Princeton from Central High School in Memphis and joined Charter Club. Accelerating his studies, Bob received a degree in 1944 in biology cum laude and entered the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He then interned at Pennsylvania Hospital, and completed a residency in obstretics and gynecology at St. Louis Maternity Hospital. He later was affiliated with hospitals in Memphis, with Washington University in St. Louis, and with the Barnes Free Skin and Cancer Clinic.

Bob and Emily Boone, known as Wink, married in 1952. He served in the Air Force at Travis Air Force Base. Back in Memphis, he entered practice with his father. Bob was first, last, and always a physician. His patients loved him. He was a very good listener, an obstetrician who gave his patients personal choices for delivery, and an exemplary surgeon whom nurses and residents competed to watch.

In 2007, Ruch Clinic in Memphis celebrated 80 years of health care for women. Bob and Wink celebrated their 50th anniversary by sponsoring a Habitat for Humanity
house. Bob is survived by Wink; daughters Emily Boone “Boo” Ruch and Rondi Ruch Lauterbach ’78; Rondi’s husband, Mark ’76; son Bob Ruch and Bob’s wife, Lisa; and the grandchildren. The class extends its sympathy to the family.