Walter Ruby's last enterprise was Ruby Carbonator Company
Besides the humorous "gin king" anecdote, searching in Newspapers.com for Walter Ruby turned up this obituary notice from the New York Daily News, published July 22, 1939, the day after his death.
It identifies Walter as the president of Ruby Carbonator Company, an intriguing detail that is new to us. Other particulars in the article comport with what we have already known.
WALTER RUBY
Carbonator Executive
Walter Ruby, 40, of 138 W. Walnut St., Long Beach, L.I., president of the Ruby Carbonator Co., 49 W. 49th St., was found dead, apparently of a heart attack, in his office at 10 A.M. yesterday by an employe[e].
The modifier "apparently" inserts some uncertainty into the cause of his death, which was later shown to have been warranted.
It makes sense that Walter had another business enterprise underway, and it was in that auspices, not just as an independent marketing consultant, that he rented offices at Rockefeller Center.
That the business was in the domain of barware and accoutrements is also not surprising. This is in the same period that he designed and patented a waiter's corkscrew, and then sold the rights for the patent for a substantial payout.
I've looked at the patent databases for carbonator to see if maybe Walter was connected with any new carbonation system or technology beyond the widely used siphon bottle. But products like Soda Stream did not come along until decades later.
Besides this reference, I can't find anything specific to Ruby Carbonator Co. on the Internet. Walter may have had a big idea for making money in bar equipment, but it seems to have been to early in development to have left much of a trace.
Still, it's a hoot that when a tabloid newspaper needed a short epitaph, two to three words to sum up his life, he was called "Carbonator Executive," as if it was a company name that everyone would know.
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