Background
Rubin was born in Manhattan"s Lower East Side in 1893, the second of seven children. He attended public school in Brooklyn but left before completing high school to join his father"s paper-box manufacturing business.
Rubin was born in Manhattan"s Lower East Side in 1893, the second of seven children. He attended public school in Brooklyn but left before completing high school to join his father"s paper-box manufacturing business.
In 1917-1919 he served in the American Expeditionary Force in France. When the Rubins learned that Sweets Company, one of their major customers, was in serious difficulty, they became interested in acquiring control of the company. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, but Bernard Rubin acquired a list of shareholders and approached them in person in order to purchase their shares.
He changed the formula for Tootsie Rolls and increased its size.
He moved the manufacturing plant from West 45th Street in Manhattan to Hoboken, New Jersey in 1938. He guided the company successfully through the war years, despite increasing difficulties in accessing the necessary raw materials.
Not only did the company survive this critical period, but at his death its volume had increased from about $1,000,000 in 1935 to more than $12,000,000 in 1947.