Residents saddened by death of Calabasas mom

By Michael Picarella Acorn Staff Writer

Rosanne, William, Benjamin and Bret Rubin

Rosanne Rubin, 38, of Calabasas died on Sun., Sept. 28 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee after suffering from injuries due to a traffic collision with a school bus the day before in Nashville.

Rubin was on vacation in Tennessee with some friends and was driving to see the home of country music stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, according to her friend and neighbor Michelle Lambert, when a bus carrying a cross-country team ran off the road, over corrected and went into the opposite lane of oncoming traffic and struck a minivan. The minivan then spun around and hit a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Rubin and three other women were in the Jeep.

"Rosanne didn’t make it," Lambert said. "In older cars, they just have the lap belt. The doctor said the seatbelt crushed her internal organs. . . Everyone else in the car survived. One other girl is in the hospital. She’s having surgery on her crushed pelvis. The driver—whose birthday it was—had minor lacerations and one girl broke a collar bone."

Nineteen victims of the accident were sent to the hospital with injuries. Most of them were treated and released shortly after.

"It’s a horrible, horrible tragedy," Lambert said.

Lambert and Rubin were very close friends. The two saw each other on a daily basis, Lambert said, and spoke on the phone at least five times a day. Lambert was very upset when she heard the news, she said.

"Mondays we used to go to Costco together and we used to spend the day with the kids at Chuck E. Cheese. She was the light of my life and the sweetest person in the world. There was nobody like her."

Rubin is survived by her husband, Bret, her 2½-year-old son, Benjamin, and her 1-year-old son, William. She was a stay-at-home mom, according to Lambert. Before she had kids, she was a publicist, Lambert said. One of her clients was actor Samuel L. Jackson from the movies "Pulp Fiction" and "Jackie Brown."

"Rosanne went from a six-figure job to being a mom," Lambert said. "You can just imagine what a wonderful mom she was. Her boys and Bret were her life."

The memorial service is to take place at noon on Monday at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village.

"Everyone in the neighborhood knew Rosanne," Lambert said. "She sat outside on her swing in her front yard and talked to every single person that walked by.

"I have 20 mothers in the neighborhood calling me morning, noon and night wondering what they can do for the family.

"We started a memorial fund in Rosanne’s name at the Santa Barbara Bank and Trust in Thousand Oaks," Lambert said.

The fund will help the family, she said. Those interested can write checks to the Rosanne Rubin Memorial Fund and send them to the bank at 33 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd. or drop cash or checks off in person at the bank.

For more information about supporting the fund, call the Santa Barbara Bank and Trust at (805) 373-6763.