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Jack Leon Ruby (born Jacob Leon Rubenstein; c. March 25, 1911 – January 3, 1967) was an American nightclub owner who murdered Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald was accused of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Born in Chicago, Ruby operated nightclubs in Texas. On November 24, 1963, two days after President Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Ruby shot and mortally wounded Oswald in Dallas Police Headquarters and was immediately arrested. Ruby was convicted and sentenced to death; the conviction was appealed, and he was to be granted a new trial, but Ruby fell ill, was diagnosed with cancer, and died of a pulmonary embolism on January 3, 1967. In 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald and shot him on impulse and in retaliation for the Kennedy assassination. The commission's findings remain controversial and has been both challenged by critics who hypothesize that Ruby was part of a conspiracy surrounding the Kennedy assassination and supported by others. Early life and career Ruby was born Jacob Leon Rubenstein on or around March 25, 1911, in the Maxwell Street area of Chicago, the son of Joseph Rubenstein and Fannie Turek Rutkowski (or Rokowsky), both Polish-born Orthodox Jews. Ruby was the fifth of his parents' 10 surviving children. While he was growing up, his parents were often violent towards each other and frequently separated; Ruby's mother was eventually committed to a mental hospital. His troubled childhood and adolescence were marked by juvenile delinquency with time being spent in foster homes. At age 11, he was arrested for truancy. Ruby eventually skipped school so often that he had to spend time at the Institute for Juvenile Research. As a young man, he sold horse-racing tip sheets and various novelties, then acted as a business agent for a local refuse collectors union that later became part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).: 332  From his early childhood, Ruby was nicknamed "Sparky" by those who knew him. His sister, Eva Grant, said that he acquired the nickname because he resembled a slow-moving horse named "Spark Plug" or "Sparky" in the contemporary comic strip Barney Google. ("Spark Plug" debuted as a character in the strip in 1922.) Other accounts say that the name was given because of his quick temper. Grant stated that Ruby did not like the nickname and was quick to fight anyone who called him that. In the 1940s, Ruby frequented race tracks in Illinois and California. He was drafted in 1943 and served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, working as an aircraft mechanic at U.S. bases until 1946. He had an honorable record and was promoted to Private First Class. Upon discharge, in 1946, Ruby returned to Chicago. In 1947, Ruby moved to Dallas, purportedly because of the failure of merchandise deals in Chicago and to help operate his sister's nightclub. Soon afterward he and his brothers shortened their surnames from Rubenstein to Ruby. The stated reason for this was that the name "Rubenstein" was too long and that he was "well known" as Jack Ruby. Ruby later went on to manage various nightclubs, strip clubs, and dance halls. He developed close ties to many Dallas Police officers who frequented his nightclubs, where he provided them with free liquor, prostitutes and other favors. Ruby never married and had no children. At the time of the assassination, Ruby was living with George Senator, who referred to Ruby as "my boyfriend" during the Warren Commission hearing, although he denied the two being homosexual lovers. Warren Commission lawyer Burt Griffin later told author Gerald Posner: "I'm not sure if Senator was honest with us about his relationship with Ruby. People did not advertise their homosexuality in 1963". Illegal activities Some critics have said that Ruby was involved in illegal activity such as gambling, narcotics, and prostitution. A 1956 FBI report stated that informant Eileen Curry had moved to Dallas in January with her boyfriend James Breen after jumping bail on narcotics charges. Breen told her that he had made connections with a large narcotics setup operating between Texas, Mexico, and the East, and that "James got the okay to operate through Ruby of Dallas." Dallas County Sheriff Steve Guthrie told the FBI that he believed that Ruby "operated some prostitution activities and other vices in his club" in Dallas. Dallas disc jockey Kenneth Dowe testified that Ruby was known around the station for "procuring women for different people who came to town". Character According to people interviewed by law enforcement and the Warren Commission, Ruby was desperate to attract attention to himself and to his club. He knew a great number of people in Dallas, but he had only a few friends. Because his business ventures remained unsuccessful, he was heavily in debt. The commission received reports of Ruby's penchant for violence. He had a volatile temper, and he often resorted to violence with employees who had upset him. He acted as the bouncer of his own club and beat his customers on at least 25 occasions. The fights would often end with Ruby throwing his victims down the club's stairs. In one fight with a man, the man bit Ruby's left index finger so badly that the doctors had it amputated. Stories of Ruby's eccentric and unstable behavior describe him as sometimes taking his shirt or other clothes off in social gatherings, and either hitting his chest like a gorilla or rolling around on the floor. During conversations, he could change the topic suddenly in mid-sentence. He sometimes welcomed a guest to his club, but on other nights he would forbid the same guest from entering. He was described by those who knew him as "a kook", "totally unpredictable", "a psycho", and "suffering from some form of disturbance". During the 1970s, prominent psychiatrist Irene Jakab, who was known for her use of art therapy in diagnosing and treating patients with mental illness, analyzed artwork that had been created by Ruby while he was in jail. While assessing one of Ruby's drawings, which had been included as part of art exhibits at the World Congress of Psychiatry meeting in Waikiki and the University of Hawaii in late August and early September 1977, she claimed that his work conveyed "repressed aggression and secretiveness," adding: Notice how he really constricts himself so as not to reveal himself. He hides behind all those geometrical lines and pointed edges. You can feel his controlled aggression. John F. Kennedy assassination November 21 The Warren Commission attempted to reconstruct Ruby's movements from November 21, 1963, through November 24.: 333  The Commission reported that he was attending to his duties as the proprietor of the Carousel Club located at 1312 1/2 Commerce St. in downtown Dallas and the Vegas Club in the city's Oak Lawn district from the afternoon of November 21 to the early hours of November 22.: 333  A n.... Discover the Robert Ruby popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Robert Ruby books.