Fond memories of Vic Rubenstein

Vic Rubenstein was one of a kind.

The longtime Valley marketing and political consultant was colorful, easily excitable, funny, creative and someone who succeeded because of his skills, talents and passion.

Vic, 72, died late Tuesday at a Pittsburgh hospital from complications after surgery.

I don’t recall the first time I met Vic, but I have many fond memories of him over the past two decades.

About 10 or 11 years ago, Vic and I were meeting at the Liberty office of his VCRubenstein Associates Inc. firm.

He had given up smoking and was chewing Nicorette gum. It wasn’t just a piece or two. He had about 10 packs of the gum that he took out of his pockets and put on the table.

We were there for about an hour and Vic repeatedly chewed on a piece of gum, almost immediately put another one or two in his mouth, got rid of those pieces after about two minutes and started the process over again.

I couldn’t pay attention to what he was saying as I was unable to do anything but marvel at the amount of Nicorette gum he chewed.

I finally told him that while I was no expert, I didn’t think chewing all that gum was any healthier than smoking cigarettes.

He agreed but it didn’t stop him from continuing the routine.

The next time I met him, Vic switched to regular gum. From what I can recall I believe he told me that his doctor told him to stop chewing so much Nicorette gum.

But again, before he sat down, Vic pulled about 10 packs of various types of gum out of his pockets, put them on the table and resumed the same routine.

He eventually kicked the gum habit.

A few years ago, we met for one of our semi-regular lunches. We ate at a restaurant near his Liberty office, but Vic was into some sort of deep-dish pizza at the time.

When he arrived at the restaurant, he gave me a box of pizza from another place to eat later. I couldn’t help but laugh that he brought me an entire pizza to a lunch meeting.

Vic was a bundle of energy, to say the least.

As Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains, who first hired Vic as his political consultant during his initial 1996 campaign for the job, said, “He was the Energizer Bunny – always working. I have no idea when he slept. I’d talk to him at 9, 10 o’clock at night during the 1996 campaign. On the day of the election, he called me at 5 a.m. to do a radio commercial at 6:30. He was a dynamo. He wanted honest candidates in office. I’m feeling pretty bad” about his passing.

Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras, who had some battles with Vic, said, “Vic was a very passionate man. We worked on a lot of campaigns together and on a lot of campaigns against each other. His creativity will be missed in the Valley.”

While Vic largely handled the campaigns of Democratic candidates – he was basically the go-to guy for Dems in Trumbull County – he also worked for Republicans.

One of them was Mike De-Wine, the attorney general who also served as a U.S. House member, a U.S. senator and lieutenant governor.

The amount of respect De-Wine had for him was on full display when I called his communications office late in the day Tuesday seeking an email with the AG’s response.

Instead, his office called me after normal business hours because DeWine wanted to speak to me personally about Vic.

When I called back around 6:30 p.m., I was quickly connected to DeWine, who praised Vic for not only his talent and creativity, but for his friendship over the years.

“You sit down with the guy and he’d come up with one idea after another,” DeWine said. “He was also a very nice guy, a very friendly guy and very insightful about people.”

I ran into Vic at an event in February 2011 with Republican political strategist Karl Rove, who was on his way to speak at the Mahoning Valley McKinley Club dinner in Niles.

The event brings Republicans from Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties together for some politicking and to honor the legacy of William McKinley, the nation’s 25th president who was born in Niles on Jan. 29, 1843.

The event is always open to the media, but Rove insisted on no press.

Vic had a ticket to the dinner and wasn’t going so he offered it to me. I accepted it and notified Republican officials that I had a ticket and was attending the event. They agreed that with a ticket I was allowed in.

Rove made some jokes about Al Gore – “God, he was annoying” – and criticized public employee unions, saying they “are a problem,” among other colorful statements.

During the 2011 Democratic primary for Warren mayor, Vic represented Jim Graham and the race was going very poorly for Graham, who lost but was elected council president two years later.

I ended up covering a press conference in which Vic asked the media in attendance if he could go off the record. No one said anything until I told Vic we couldn’t as this was an event with about five reporters, almost as many photographers and cameramen, and a number of campaign supporters.

He quickly realized I was correct and apologized, though there was no need to say he was sorry.

But that was Vic – always going the extra mile to do the right thing. He’ll be greatly missed.