James F. Ruttenberg, age 60, passed away on May 18th, surrounded by his loving family, after his courageous battle with cancer. He will greatly be missed by his devoted wife, Debbie, of 34 years and his twin sons, Matthew (Niesha) and Bradley, as well as his older brother, Don (Lori). Jim will be remembered forever by all the lives he touched with his warm smile and positive attitude towards life. He was preceded by death by his loving parents, William and Helen Ruttenberg.

Jim grew up in Stow, Ohio and graduated from Stow High School in 1968. He furthered his education at both Tyler University and Akron University. Jim was a "career agent" and Financial Planner with Prudential Insurance Company for 36 years as well as Ruttenberg Financial Inc. in Stow, Ohio. One of the most important jobs he did was being an active firefighter and EMT with the Stow Fire Dept. for almost 40 years. This part of his life meant so much to him. He loved saving lives and keeping everyone safe.

Jim was an avid golfer, an accomplished pilot, and he loved boating. He and his wife recently moved permanently to Cape Coral, Florida to be near his sons and be able to continue his passions. Jim was a long time member of the Stow Rotary as well as the Stow-Munroe Falls Chamber of Commerce. He gave back to community in many ways his entire life. He was a member of the Hudson Community Chapel in Hudson, Ohio where he served as an usher for many years.

There will be a "Celebration of his Life" and memorial service on Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. at the Hudson Community Chapel at 750 West Streetsboro Street, Hudson, Ohio.

In lieu of flowers, the family has set up a foundation in Jim's name at Stow Monroe Falls Foundation, 44 Munroe Falls Avenue, Munroe Falls, Ohio 44262 where Jim had expressed wishes that the donations go to providing heart defibrillators for the City of Stow where they are needed. You may also donate to Hope Hospice, 2430 Diplomat Parkway East, Cape Coral, Fla 33909. Thank you in advance for all your thoughts and prayers to the family.



-to be posted in the Akron Beacon Journal and the Stow Sentry

Memorial Service

Hello everyone, we wanted to let everyone know the plans for the memorial "celebration of life" service next week. It will be located at the Hudson Community Chapel in Hudson, Ohio next Thursday (5/27) at 10:00 am. We understand that there are alot of people from out of town that need to make arrangements... your airport options are Akron Canton Airport or Cleveland Airport. There are several hotels in the area including Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio as well as the normal hotels and motels... locations are generally located on Rt 8 and Steels Corners. We are all doing well for now, and again we want to thank you again for your prayers and support.

Deb, Matt, and Brad

Tuesday, May 18th

Hello everyone. Dad passed away today at 10:32 AM. We were all dreading this day and this blog post, but in the end, it was something that we all were praying for. He was a strong man and fought the GREAT fight. He was in complete peace and pain free the last couple of days. We were all by his side at the end holding his hand and giving him all of our love. He is now in complete bliss with his mom and dad and yes, even Brute the old family dog. We've already started joking that he's working with Mom's dad "Homer" on that AWEFUL thing he called a golf swing. Thanks so much to all of you and your support. It's been overwhelming the love and support we have had from so many people and I'm sure it will continue now more than ever. We will keep everyone posted on the memorial service. We know that it will take place at the Hudson Chapel in Ohio some time next week.

Today is Sunday and Hospice has nurses around the clock for us. They are wonderful. It has taken alot of pressure off for the moment and has given all of us a little break...so we can just be with him and hope he can hear our voices when we talk of all our memories with him. We just want to be a family and make sure he knows we will be ok- and show him how much we love him. The nurses can take care of the rest. We feel it is getting near. We are hoping that he is at peace with all of this. He sleeps all the time and is comfortable in his own bed in his own room for now. We had hoped to get him outside on Friday for the launch but he was too weak to be out of bed. He watched it on TV and that was good enough, although we had hoped to actually go there and get up close and personal. Please pray for our strenghth and we will keep you all posted when there are any significant changes. Thank you for your prayers. The Ruttenberg family

Hi to all of you wonderful friends and relatives. I am sitting here next to Jim sleeping and reading all the touching comments that you all have written to us. It makes us feel so close to all of you. I read them and cry at the love that comes through your comments. He IS a great guy...AND it is just not fair for this to be happening. But we know as someone sent to us...he will find out when he gets to ask GOD himself what his plan was.(I made him promise to get back to me on that) We are home with hospice nurses checking in on us. He is kept as confortable and pain free as possible. He understands most things that are going on-most of the time. Jim is so tired. The disease has progressed very rapidly and his strenth is declining at the same speed. We still keep him "look'n good" all the time-as Jim continues to want to tease the nurses. We had a wonderful weekend with Don, Jim's brother who made the 20 hour trip down here to be with his bro. It was sad when he left. Unbearable to watch them say goodbye. Uncle Ray...what can I say. It was wonderful to hear from you. ps. you should be a writer..oh that's right we come from a family of writers, right? Cannot wait to get a big SHEPHERD hug from you. Dan K.-we have gotten all your messages. We always have Jim listen to them. And to all our friends from Stow, the fire dept., the police dept..thanks to Mike Murphy for orchestrating the most wonderful radio hello from the guys and gals of Stow's finest. It put a giant smile on his face. What can I say...I love you all and still need your strength and prayer. You know we always think their might be one more miracle out there...we had one with Jim being at Matt and Niesha's wedding. I feel Jim Ruttenberg deserves another one. Don't you? Well lets all ask and maybe HE will listen. My boys. I love my boys. I am so glad to be here where they can be around Jim all the time. They are so strong-just as Jim raised them to be. You would all be so proud of them. Bonnie, John and Susan...I love you all. I know this is driving you crazy not being here...you will all be my rocks later. We are all as a family doing ok. We are strong and we help each other on days that we have no strength. There are days when your voices even on voice messages get me through to the next day. Keep them coming. Again. I love all of you. Debbie

Friday, April 30th

Hey everyone, this is Brad. It's been a very shocking couple weeks. Dad is at home now, with Hope Hospice care. It seems that it is now the "11th hour". Our goal is to keep him comfortable. He has quite a bit of pain, but they've made sure that he gets enough medication to keep him as pain free as possible. He hasn't been eating much, but he is still nibbling. The financial planner in him just keeps ticking though so that takes up most of our conversations. He says hi everyone. He is very much at peace with everything and is "just tired". Please keep up the prayers and good thoughts. You can never get enough of either.

Hi y'all. Been along time since I updated my blog. My last adventure was last week when we had to go up to Tampa General again. Apparently my stints had a mechanical malfunction and I became "backed up" again..very jaundice but not really due to the cancer growing. My scans came back pretty good. Doctor said the treatment at least kept it at bay. Small successes in that it may have shrunk a little and the fact that I did gain 6 pounds. The procedure they did to unplug me really has set me back. I now have an external tube and bag for another week but they will be able to internalize them in a couple of weeks hopefully when I get less jaundiced. I am very tired and in some pain. The pain meds are helping me but I am sleeping alot. When all is said and done, they are thinking of starting me on chemo through IV this time..one day a week, 2 weeks on and one week off. Don't know for how long. But he feels that this is the "work horse" that may help. That is it for now. Thanks for the support and prayers. Until next time...Jim