Page 43 - Rukert - 100th Anniversary

PART I THE RUKERT STORY
TWO OF A KIND: HELEN DELICH BENTLEY AND CAP RUKERT
HELEN DELICH BENTLEY ARRIVED IN BALTIMORE IN 1945. FRESH OUT OF COLLEGE WITH A JOURNALISM DEGREE, SHE ACCEPTED THE ONLY BIG-CITY NEWSPAPER JOB
SHE COULD GET: MARITIME REPORTER FOR THE BALTIMORE SUN. It was an odd post for a miner’s daughter from land-locked Nevada. As a 22-year-old, she was unknown, and as a woman she was out of place. Yet this woman, now considered the “Godmother of the Port,” would quickly learn her way around the male-dominated waterfront.
Cap, on the other hand, was at home, already a fixture in maritime circles. At 60, he’d been on the waterfront for decades, but still liked to recall his first job as a junior reporter. Perhaps that shared interest sparked a connection between Cap and Helen. Cap’s outspoken, even bombastic nature made him a reliable source for a news story or quote. He quickly became a regular in her Around the Waterfront column. The two must have seemed an odd pair talking shop together in his ramshackle office. Over the decades, Helen Bentley wrote four extended profiles of Cap for the Sun. With these pieces, Helen Bentley affectionately captured Cap’s personality, spirit and business philosophy better than anyone.
In 1952, Helen Bentley became maritime editor for the Sun. From 1950 to 1965, she also hosted a weekly television show,
The Port that Built a City and State. By then a well-known port figure herself, Bentley used this platform to educate and remind her viewers about the importance of the port for Baltimore
and Maryland.
Helen Bentley left the Sun in 1969, when she was appointed Chairperson of the Federal Maritime Commission, making her the highest-ranking woman in the Nixon administration. In 1984, she was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where she served until 1995.
These are only a few accomplishments in Helen Bentley’s distinguished career. Her maritime contributions and public service were so vast that in 2006, on its 300th anniversary, Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich renamed the port The Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore.
Despite their obvious differences, Cap Rukert and Helen Bentley had some striking similarities. Both started in the news business by choice, but came to the waterfront by necessity. For both, their fateful arrival on the waterfront changed the trajectory of their lives and the Port of Baltimore. Each was known as a no-nonsense, tough-talking and tenacious advocate for the port. They shared a determination and devotion to the port that made them each feared as well as revered. Their relentless pursuits over nearly a century left an indelible mark on the Baltimore waterfront.
Helen Bentley was a friend of the Rukert family and a partner to Rukert Terminals for 70 years. During that time, she was one of a few cherished people to know Cap and all four generations of his descendants. Helen Bentley died in 2016 at the age of 92.
RIGHT: Cap is interviewed by Helen Delich for her TV show “The Port that Built a City” in 1955.
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