Joel S. Rutstein

Joel Stephen Rutstein died at home in Fort Collins, Colorado on April 17, 2022. He was born on September 5, 1940 in Burlington, Vermont to Dora (Weissman) and Milton Rutstein. He was a graduate of Burlington High School and the University of Vermont with a BA in history and political science and where he met his wife, Barbara, of 58 years. He had a Master’s Degree in Asian history from Boston University and a Masters in library science from Simmons College. Joel served in the U.S. Army reserves from 1963 until 1969. He began his library career at the University of New Hampshire. After four years there, he accepted a position at Colorado State University in Fort Collins as the social science and art reference librarian. In this position, he met and became friends with many faculty in his reference areas, and thoroughly enjoyed mentoring new hires. Later, as the Collection Development Director, he guided the building of the library’s book and digital collections. After the flood of 1997, he led the recovery effort which included restoration of damaged books and the acquisition of collections donated from all over the country. It won’t come as a surprise that he loved to read, and was especially fond of books about Mt. Everest, World War II and art history. He was a bike commuter before it was cool – riding his trusty Trek to the campus for over 30 years, which he leveraged in later years when signing up for several Ride the Rockies. During his time at CSU, Joel had numerous fruitful sabbaticals. Whilst in Canterbury, England at the University of Kent, he lent his expertise in collection development, and his colleagues were kind enough to share their expertise in pub culture and eating Cornish pasties, which Joel loved. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he was able to marry his love of art with books, and took full advantage of the city’s cultural attractions. The Library of Congress in Washington, DC, proved another interesting adventure, allowing him access to the granddaddy of all libraries and an opportunity to curate an exhibit on Spanish Civil War posters. He also had a six-week Fulbright to India with other CSU faculty. Once retired, Joel devoted many hours to the study of art as well as working as a pastel, watercolor and print artist. He had several shows in Fort Collins, the last one being in 2019. He also gave several lectures and classes on art and artists for Front Range Forum. In his many travels, checking out art exhibits and museums was high on the list of things to see. He served on the board of the Fort Collins Art Museum and the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art at CSU. He also devoted 20 years to cooking dinner every night, for family and friends, and relished a cigar and smokey Scotch when the opportunity arose. During his early days in New Hampshire, it seemed reading about hiking was all he could muster, and the moniker “armchair walker” was assigned lovingly by his family. However, that all changed once Joel discovered Edward Abbey and the desert Southwest. He and some friends formed “The Desert Ramblers Club” (DRC) and each spring they took off for some of the gorgeous canyon country in Colorado and Utah. The DRC spent many days traversing the trails in Canyonlands and other favorite desert spots, on occasion rescuing other canyon rats, the occasional vehicle, and on one infamous occasion, being rescued himself. But his very favorite place to ramble was the Grand Canyon, which included the opportunity to raft through it from Lees Ferry to Lake Mead. His family also joined him on some of these trips which allowed Joel to share and pass along his love of the desert country. Highlights of Joel's travels include Victoria Falls, the Dolomites, Iguazu Falls, Annapurna Base Camp, Torres del Paine, Argentina, various treks through the British countryside and Tiger Hill, India, to see Mount Everest. He was a keen observer of daily life, was always interested in others, could remember the date and timeline for just about any event, and had a quick wit coupled with a dry sense of humor. His warm smile will be missed by all. There will be a gathering on June 8th, 2022, 6-8pm at the Rio Grande restaurant Agave Room, 149 W. Mountain Ave, Ft. Collins. Joel is survived by his wife Barbara, daughters Karin Rutstein (John Mullaney) and their daughter Abigail; Pamela Rutstein and her daughters, Linden and Maya Potempa; his brothers, A. David Rutstein (Amy) and James F. Rutstein (Jane). The family is most grateful for the care Joel received from Dr. Daniel Pollyea and his staff at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Center and Dr. Steven Schuster and his staff at the Harmony Medical Center, Fort Collins. If you would like to make a donation in Joel’s name, please consider the University of Colorado Foundation, Pollyea Leukemia Research Fund, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, 13001 East 17th Place, Suite WG112 Aurora, CO 80045 or https://giving.cu.edu/fund/pollyea-leukemia-research-fund OR PVH & MCR Foundation, Garth Englund Blood Center 2315 E. Harmony Road, Ste. 200, Fort Collins 80528.