William Ruger | |
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Born | William Batterman Ruger June 21, 1916 |
Died | July 6, 2002 | (aged 86)
Occupations |
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Children | 3 |
William Batterman Ruger (June 21, 1916 – July 6, 2002) was an American gun designer who founded Sturm, Ruger & Company in 1949 with Alexander Sturm.
Ruger was born on June 21, 1916 in Brooklyn, New York.[1] He learned to shoot at when he was 6 and got his own Remington Model 12 from his father when he was 12.[1]
When he was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he turned a room into a machine shop and made designs for a light machine gun for the United States Army.[2]
He is best known today for his founding Sturm, Ruger & Co. in 1949 with Alexander Sturm. Ruger invented dozens of sporting guns, which were successful.[3] When not involved with guns, Ruger worked on 19th century art and his antique car collection..[4]
Ruger retired in October 2000. On July 6, 2002, at age 86, he died in his home in Prescott, Arizona.[5]