Armin Albert Rubbert

Armin Julius Albert Rubbert, age 91, passed away September 23, 2023, under the expert care of Sanford Hospice House in Fargo, North Dakota. Armin was born May 31, 1932, to Reverend Felix and Delma (Kaeding) Rubbert in Kenmare, ND, and attended grade school in Tolley, where his father served Trinity Tolley, a parish of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. He spent his 7th and 8th-grade years at Richland County School Summit #3 and attended high school in Wahpeton, graduating in 1950.

Armin earned a B.A. in Mathematics and Chemistry from Yankton College before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1955. He was stationed at White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico (1955-1957), where he was an Atomic Weapons Specialist and a programmer of one of the first-ever U.S. Government computers, the DYSEAC. He returned to Fargo in 1958 and earned a Master’s degree in Mathematics from NDSU before taking a job with Boeing in Seattle. He earned an M.A. in Systems Management from the U of Southern California in 1977, followed by 12 years as a Mathematical Statistician at the Naval Underseas Weapons Engineering Station in Keyport, WA. In 1979. Armin was hired by Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, as an Operations Research Analyst where, in 1984, he was named Logistics Manager of the Year for using computation analysis to save 100 million dollars on stocking airplane parts and for “developing in-theatre logistics support . . . to improve readiness and sustainability of the fighting force.” Armin took early retirement in 1991 and bought a home on Star Lake in Minnesota.

He was single until he was 76 years old. On August 2, 2008, he married Marie (Schollmeyer) Boldt and experienced what he said “were the happiest ten years of my life.” The couple lived in Cuba City, WI, then in Platteville, WI. They traveled extensively and shared many interests. Marie passed away in February of 2019, and Armin returned to Fargo.

Armin was a man of rare intellectual ability and extraordinary wit. He waxed eloquent on subjects dear to him: mathematics, philosophy, theology, and Native American culture, among them. He loved a spirited debate and enjoyed writing letters to the editor. Up until the time of his death, he was filling notebooks with mathematical equations in an attempt to solve a universal, unresolved mathematical problem. Armin had a heart for troubled children; he was a generous benefactor of the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, for which he was honored with an article in The Ranch Voice, September 2022. The family asks that memorials be directed to The Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch.

Armin is survived by his sister, Margaret of Minneapolis; niece, Kristen (Dean) Lambert of Minneapolis; nephew, Jeffrey (Shelley) Heglie of Portland OR; their son, Rowan; and daughter, Aubyn; cousin, Elizabeth (Herschlip) Wick; her son, Mark Herschlip and Pamela (Sund) Herschlip of Fargo who cared for Armin in his elder years. He is also survived by many extended Rubbert and Heglie relatives.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Marie; his brother, Dr. Duane Rubbert, who was tragically killed in a private airplane accident in 1964, plus many extended family members.

Armin was a member of Grace Lutheran Church, Fargo, ND. A private family service will be held at a later date. Arrangements are entrusted to Hanson-Runsvold Funeral Home, Fargo - N.D. Internment: Sunset Memorial Gardens.