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W.B. Ruger, 1916-2002
Firearms pioneer passes away at 86
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Business New Haven
8/5/2002
By: BNH
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FAIRFIELD - William Batterman Ruger, the founder and chairman emeritus of Sturm, Ruger & Co., the Southport gun manufacturer, died July 6.
Ruger, 86, who had been in failing health, passed away at a vacation home in Prescott, Ariz.
Ruger and Alexander McCormick Sturm formed Sturm, Ruger & Co. in 1949. After Sturm died in 1951, the company, led by Ruger, produced rifles, shotguns, pistols and revolvers.
“Ruger was a true firearms genius who mastered the disciplines of invention, designing, engineering, manufacturing and marketing better than anyone since Samuel Colt,” said R. L. Wilson, a firearms historian and Ruger's biographer. “No one in the 20th century so clearly dominated the field or was so skilled at articulating the unique appeal of quality firearms for legitimate uses.”
While a student at the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill, Ruger experienced early success by designing a light machine gun for U.S. Army use. Over the course of his lifetime Ruger helped invent and patent dozens of models of sporting firearms.
Sturm, Ruger is today headed by his son, William B. Ruger Jr., the company's chairman. At facilities in Newport, N.H., and Prescott, Ariz., the firm manufactures rifles, shotguns, pistols and revolvers for law-enforcement and sporting applications.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on June 12, 1916, Ruger lived much of his life in Southport. He moved to Croydon, N.H., in 1994, after his wife, Mary Thompson Ruger, died.
In addition to his son, Ruger is survived by a daughter, Carolyn R. Vogel, six grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
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