Ruth Fertel

Ruth Ann Udstad was born into a poor family of Norwegian, Alsatian and Croatian descent[1] in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Her father was born in Norway and emigrated to the United States where he became an engineer, and her mother was of mixed Alsatian-French and Croatian descent.

[2] In 1932, during the Great Depression, she and her family relocated to her mother's birthplace, the community of Homeplace in Plaquemines Parish, which was about 60 miles from New Orleans.

Bill benefits to send her to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge at 15, from where she graduated at age 19 with honors in chemistry and physics.

[7] On October 2, 1948, she married Rodney Fertel, who lived in Baton Rouge and shared her love of horses, and they had two sons, Jerry and Randy.

[9] Unable to support herself and her teenage sons on her alimony payments, she initially supplemented her income by making drapes out of her own home.

[10] In 1961, she took a job as a lab technician for physician-scientist George E. Burch at the Tulane University School of Medicine, earning $4,800 a year.

"[22] Political reporter Rosemary James noted that she "would not have missed a Friday before a major election at Ruth's Chris Steak House.

"[26] The chain expanded rapidly over the next two decades, with over 80 locations in the US and overseas, and earning Fertel a number of accolades as an entrepreneur, and the epithet The First Lady of American Restaurants or The Empress of Steak.

She was buried in Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery, in a lavish mausoleum she and her friend and business partner, Lana Duke, had commissioned in 1995, and which cost over $500,000.

[30][31] The granite building, on a square 27-foot plot, has black columns and stained glass windows featuring angels and the words "It's A Wonderful World".

In 1965, when Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans, she was left without power, and realized that the food in her restaurant was in danger of spoiling.

[37] She paid for the education of numerous children, provided counseling for women starting businesses, and contributed to local schools.

[38] The Ruth U. Fertel Foundation, established in her will, supports education in Louisiana through programs designed to serve students from kindergarten through college.