Ruth Ann Udstad Fertel (February 5, 1927 - April 16, 2002) was the founder of Ruth's Chris Steak Houses.
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She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. During the Great Depression, she and her family moved to the community of Homeplace in Plaquemines Parish. She skipped several grades in grammar school, and later entered Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge at the age of fifteen to pursue degrees in chemistry and physics.
In 1946, Udstad obtained a job teaching at McNeese State University in Lake Charles. She left after two semesters.
On October 2, 1948, she married Rodney Fertel, who lived in Baton Rouge and shared her love of horses, and they had two sons, Jerry and Randy. In 1951, they opened a racing stable in Baton Rouge. Ruth earned a thoroughbred trainer’s license, making her the first female horse trainer in Louisiana. Ruth and Rodney divorced in 1958.
In 1965 Fertel, a divorced mother of two, found a classified ad offering a restaurant for sale. She mortgaged her house to purchase the restaurant, the original Chris's steakhouse. In 1976 a fire forced her to relocate. Terms of her purchase agreement prevented her from using the name "Chris's Restaurant" anywhere but the original location, prompting the restaurant to be renamed "Ruth's Chris." The same year, Fertel agreed to issue her first franchise. The franchise chain spread rapidly over the next two decades, earning Fertel a number of accolades as an entrepreneur. She died at age 75.
Some of her awards include: