Background
Ruan, John was born on February 11, 1914 in Beacon, Iowa, United States. Son of John Arthur and Rachel Anthony (Llewellyn) Ruan.
chairman Chief Executive Officer of The Ruan Companies
Ruan, John was born on February 11, 1914 in Beacon, Iowa, United States. Son of John Arthur and Rachel Anthony (Llewellyn) Ruan.
Student, Iowa State University, 1931-1932.
At the Ruan Companies, Ruan represented a diversified group of businesses with activities that include transportation, commercial banking, financial services, international trading and real estate development. In his native Iowa, Ruan was a major contributor in business and the development of the Des Moines metropolitan area. In the early 1970s, Ruan built the 36 story Ruan Center to house the administration of the growing number of Ruan companies.
Ruan built the 33-story Marriott Hotel in 1980 and the 14-story Two Ruan Center in 1982.
He was active in the development and building of the Des Moines Convention Center in 1985 as well as several parking ramps in the downtown area. Ruan also owned Bankers Trust Company, the largest independent bank in Iowa.
One of the top-ranked facilities of its kind, the Center provides quality care for people around the globe. Ruan began his trucking company in 1932 with only one truck.
This small business grew into Ruan Transportation Management Systems, which is now one of the nation"s largest trucking operations.
Internationally, Ruan founded the Iowa Export-Import Trading Company, a business involving over 50 nations around the world. He was the subject of a 2003 biography, In for the Long Haul: The Life of John Ruan, by historian William B. Fredericks. Ruan died on February 14, 2010, three days after his 96th birthday.
Member Des Moines Development Corporation. Past president Greater Des Moines Committee, Iowa State Engineering College Advisory Council. Finance chairman, executive committee Northwestern University Transportation Center.
Board governors Iowa State University Foundation. Board directors Des Moines Area Council on Alcoholism, Living History Farms. Trustee Hoover Presidential Library Associations, Inc.
Member American Trucking Associations, Inc. (treasurer, executive committee, chairman finance committee), American Trucking Associations Foundation (trustee), Iowa Association Business and Industry (board directors), Des Moines C. of Chamber (board directors). Clubs: Wakonda, Des Moines.
Lost Tree, Old Port Yacht (North Palm Beach, Florida). Rancho LaCosta (Carlsbad, California).
Married Rose Duffy, July 10, 1941 (deceased May 1943). 1 child, John III; Married Elizabeth J. Adams, September 6, 1946. Children: Elizabeth Jayne Ruan Fletcher (deceased 1992), Thomas Heyliger.