The bowling world mourns the loss of a legend - New Products & Industry News - Ruben A. Dankoff - Obituary

Bowling Digest, June, 2003

The bowling industry lost a dear friend and leader on March 9, with the passing of Ruben A. Dankoff, 92, who dedicated his professional life to the game, sport, and business of bowling.

In 1990, Mr. Dankoff received the distinguished Victor Lerner Memorial Medal, the highest award offered by the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America (BPAA). More recently, the association honored Mr. Dankoff in 2001 by creating an award for public policy, later named the Ruben A. Dankoff Award for Public Policy and Legislative Service. The award--given annually by the BPAA--recognizes Mr. Dankoff's "exemplary service as [BPAA Legislative] committee chairman and ... his distinguished career as a proprietor and director of the BPAA." He was also honored for having both "the foresight to recognize fully the potentially favorable and adverse consequences of government regulation, and the leadership to ensure that BPAA members were advised of those impacts and the means to address them in their centers."

Mr. Dankoff served as legislative chairman for the BPAA for nearly 10 years. He was also BPAA membership chairman during the association's largest growth period.

At the time of his death, Dankoff owned Herrill Lanes in New Hyde Park, N.Y., and JIB Lanes in Flushing, N.Y. Even in his advanced age, he strove to visit his bowling centers at least once a week. For more than 30 years, Dankoff served as president of General Bowling Corporation, which operated five bowling centers in New York, three in Pennsylvania, and two in Virginia. At one time, he owned bowling centers as far away as Atlanta, Birmingham, Ala., and Kentucky, as well as three in New Jersey. He also served in various leadership capacities with the Multi-Unit Bowling Information Group.

Mr. Dankoff graduated Phi Beta Kappa from both the University of Rochester (Class of '32) and Harvard Law School (Class of '35). After a distinguished legal career spanning more than 20 years, he started his bowling business, which he eventually sold in 1997.

Mr. Dankoff is survived by his wife Joyce, two sisters (Elinor Dankoff and Edith Parker), three children (Robert Dankoff of Chicago, Barbara Dolloff of New Mexico, and Erica Gennarini of New Jersey), as well as five grandchildren and six great-grand-children.