Ruth Fertel

Ruth Ann Udstad Fertel (February 5, 1927April 16, 2002) was a Louisiana businesswoman, best known as the founder of Ruth's Chris Steak Houses, which was founded in 1965. Early life and teaching Ruth Ann Udstad was born into a poor family of Alsatian descent in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her father was an insurance salesman, and her mother was a kindergarten teacher. In 1932, during the Great Depression, she and her family relocated to her mother's birthplace, the community of Homeplace in Plaquemines Parish, which was about 60 miles from New Orleans. (Note: some sources claim she was either born or grew up in Happy Jack, Louisiana, also in Plaquemines.) She skipped several grades in elementary school, and graduated at age 15. The family used the money from her brother Sig's World War Two G.I. Bill benefits to send her to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge at 15, from where she graduated at age 19 with honors in chemistry and physics. In 1946, Udstad obtained a job teaching at McNeese State University in Lake Charles. She left after two semesters.