Abraham Bear, A Leading Citizen of Sandusky

Pictured above are employees of Bear and Ruth in 1898. At the time this picture was taken, Abraham Bear and Jacob Ruth had a pork packing and provision business, with locations at 809-811 Water Street and 58 Railroad Street, which is now Shoreline Drive. Abraham Bear was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1842 to Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Bear. The family relocated to Sandusky when Abraham was very young. Nathan Bear had a grocery business in Sandusky, and then he formed a provision business with F.W. Alvord. By 1867, Abraham Bear joined his father Nathan in the fish business, known as Bear and Son. A few years later Abraham and Nathan Bear joined with Jacob Hosmer to form Hosmer, Bear and Company, which dealt in pork and fish packing as well as a commission business.

After the death of Nathan Bear, Abraham Bear formed a partnership with Jacob Ruth, and the company was known as Bear and Ruth. An article in the October 18, 1958 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that “For about forty years the name of Bear & Ruth meant a high quality of pork products. Their trademark of a bear was a familiar one in Sandusky and over the north central states. Hickory smoked, extra sugar cured hams and bacon were their specialty.”  When Abraham Bear died in 1919, the headline of his obituary which appeared in the November 4, 1919 Sandusky Register read “Leading Citizen, Abraham Bear, is Called by Death.”

Abraham Bear was buried in the Oheb Shalom Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Flora, and daughter, Mrs. Leo Asch of Philadelphia.