St. Charles 'pioneer' Ruby Frank mourned

Ruby Frank, who founded the Fox Valley's oldest and largest staffing company, was being remembered Monday as a pioneering local businesswoman and tireless public servant.

Frank, formerly of St. Charles, died of congestive heart failure Saturday at her retirement home in Naples, Fla., her son said. She was 88.

"The community has lost one of the pillars that has held it up for many, many years," former St. Charles mayor Fred Norris said. "It's never going to be the same without her."

A child of the Great Depression, Frank moved to St. Charles in 1953 to start a family with her husband Robert and went on to build one of the region's most thriving employment agencies, Frank's Employment, which opened in 1957.

At the time, Frank was venturing into new territory not only because employment companies were rare but because she was a woman, her son said.

"Clearly, business was a man's world then," said Craig Frank, 55, who now runs the family business. "She did well because she wasn't afraid to be one of the guys."

Frank's Employment began after Frank, a former executive secretary in Chicago, began receiving frequent requests for temporary help at businesses in and around St. Charles. The load eventually became too much for one person to handle, her son said, so she set out to put others to work.

Over the years, the business expanded to include permanent staffing and outplacement services. Craig Frank estimated that more than 17,000 people have found work through his mother's business. She retired in 2003.

Throughout the course of her career, Frank was involved with dozens of local organizations, including decades on the Delnor Hospital board of directors in Geneva, the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce and the Kane County Republican Party.

"She was just a real pioneer in an era where women were typically thought of to take a back seat," St. Charles Mayor Don DeWitte said. "She refused to do it, and the community and every organization she was a part of is better off because of it."

Craig Frank said his mother believed community service went hand in hand with owning a local business, but it also was a calling she truly enjoyed.

"The main theme I see over the years is her helping people," he said.

A full obituary appears in Section 3, Page 2.