Ruben Jaari

{{Short description|Finnish businessman (1906–1991)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Ruben Jaari

| image = Ruben-Jaari-1985.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Portrait photograph taken in 1985

| birth_name = Robert Jankeloff

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1906|1|22|df=y}}

| birth_place = Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire (now Finland)

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1991|8|15|1906|1|22|df=y}}

| death_place = Helsinki, Finland

| nationality = Finnish

| occupation = Businessman

}}

Ruben Jaari (until 1936 Robert Jankeloff; 22 January 1906 Helsinki – 15 August 1991 Helsinki) was a Finnish businessman and founder of the department store {{ill|Pukeva|fi}}.{{cite web |last1=Pohls |first1=Maritta |title=Kauppaneuvos Ruben Jaari (1906–1991) |url=https://kansallisbiografia.fi/talousvaikuttajat/henkilo/1136 |website=Kansallisbiografia |accessdate=June 24, 2020 |date=August 25, 2000}}{{cite news |last1=Rissanen |first1=Virve |last2=Laitinen |first2=Joonas |title=Pukeva-tavaratalon henki elää: Henkilökunta kokoontuu yhä vuosittain laulamaan tv:stä tuttua mainoslaulua |url=https://www.hs.fi/kaupunki/art-2000002880418.html |accessdate=June 24, 2020 |work=Helsingin Sanomat |date=January 17, 2016}}{{cite news |last1=Närhi |first1=Ari |title=Kauppaneuvos Ruben Jaari Kaisaniemen keisari myi muodin kansalle |url=https://www.hs.fi/ihmiset/art-2000003084958.html |accessdate=June 24, 2020 |work=Helsingin Sanomat |date=August 16, 1991}}{{cite web |last1=Luhtala |first1=Riitta |last2=Hakola |first2=Iida |last3=Jaari |first3=Ralph |title=Rubenin Pukeva – liike verraton |url=https://www.jaari.info/rubenin-pukeva |website=Jaari |accessdate=June 24, 2020}}

Biography

Jaari's parents were Samuel and Lena Jankeloff, and the family – originally from Russia – moved to Helsinki in the 1860s. The Jankeloff family maintained clothing shops in Kamppi and in Annankatu, in central Helsinki. As well as Ruben the Jankeloff family had three other sons: Sender, David, and Fabian (known as Fajo). Sender later emigrated to the United States. During the First World War the family moved to Copenhagen, but they returned in the 1920s to Finland.

Ruben Jaari trained as an electrical engineer in France and Germany, changing his surname to Jaari in the 1930s. He founded a store, named Kappa, in 1933 and sold in Vuorikatu with his brother Fajo women's jackets. Fajo was later to found his own business.

In 1939 Jaari married Irene Friedländer, a Latvian Jew whose parents later were murdered in the Holocaust. Ruben and Irene had three children: Rea (b. 1940), who today works as a psychologist in England; Ray (1943–1991), who died in a car accident; and Ralph (b. 1949), who today works in the construction trade in Tallinn.

Pukeva went bankrupt during the Recession of the 1990s, partly due to the construction of Kaisaniemi metro station.

Jaari died in 1991, and is buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Helsinki.

{{gallery

|mode=packed

|File:Pukeva kauppakeskus 1970.jpg|Pukeva store in 1970

|File:Ruben-Jaari-1973.jpg|Ruben Jaari (to the right) with staff in 1973

}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • {{cite news |first=Eeva |last=Järvenpää |url=http://www2.hs.fi/extrat/kaupunki/korttelisarja/53_1.html |title=Kaisaniemen keisari myi muotia koko perheelle |publisher=Helsingin Sanomat |date=October 28, 2006 |language=Finnish |accessdate=October 8, 2009 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604131505/http://www2.hs.fi/extrat/kaupunki/korttelisarja/53_1.html |archivedate=June 4, 2011 }}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaari, Ruben}}

Category:1906 births

Category:1991 deaths

Category:20th-century Finnish Jews

Category:Finnish people of Russian-Jewish descent