Frederick Gale Ruffner Jr. (August 26, 1926 – August 13, 2014) was an American publisher who is known as the founder of

Gale Research Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...

. He died August 12, 2014, at the age of 87.

Publishing career

Ruffner founded

in 1954 while working as a market researcher for the General Detroit Corporation,"Gale Founder Frederick Ruffner Dies at 88" ''Library Journal'' – Retrieved October 3, 2014
/ref> a manufacturer of fire extinguishers and fire trucks. Early Gale publications included the ''National Directory of

Rack Jobber A rack jobber (also known as a rack merchandiser) is a company or trader that has an agreement with a retailer to display and sell products in a store. The outlets for the products would be ones that traditionally do not stock such products such as ...

s'' and the ''National Directory of Trading Stamp Houses'' His first major success was the ''

Encyclopedia of Associations The ''Encyclopedia of Associations'' (''EA'') is a comprehensive directory of more than 20,000 associations, societies, and other non-profit membership organizations in the United States of America. Originally titled the ''Encyclopedia of America ...

'', (originally titled the ''Encyclopedia of American Associations'') in 1956. Beginning with the third edition, the title was changed to the ''Encyclopedia of Associations''. Other major publications included ''

Contemporary Authors ''Contemporary Authors'' is a reference work which has been published by Gale since 1962. It provides short biographies and bibliographies of contemporary and near-contemporary writers. ''Contemporary Authors'' does not have selective inclusion cr ...

'' and the ''

Dictionary of Literary Biography The ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'' is a specialist biographical dictionary dedicated to literature. Published by Gale, the 375-volume setRogers, 106. covers a wide variety of literary topics, periods, and genres, with a focus on American ...

''. Ruffner sold Gale to Thomson in 1985. In 1985, Ruffner founded the publishing company

Omnigraphics Omnigraphics is a publishing company located in Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of ...

with his son Peter. In 1986, Ruffner founded the Literary Landmarks Association to recognize historic sites related to major literary figures and events. Ruffner was awarded an honorary membership in the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

in 1987.American Library Association's Honorary Member Listing
/ref>

Military career

Ruffner enlisted in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

at the age of seventeen and fought at

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 es ...

and

Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

during World War II. He was awarded the

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

for Valor and the

Combat Infantryman Badge The Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) is a United States Army military decoration. The badge is awarded to infantrymen and Special Forces soldiers in the rank of colonel and below, who fought in active ground combat while assigned as members of ei ...

References

External links

Gale website

Omnigraphics website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruffner, Frederick American publishers (people) Ohio State University alumni 1926 births 2014 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II

Publishing career

Military career

See also

References

External links