Pedaling for Donations

avid Rubin (pictured 3rd from left), a.k.a. “the vampire of UNC Kenan-Flagler,” said donating blood makes good business sense.

“You invest an hour of your time to give a pint of blood, and somebody gets to live,” Rubin said. “That’s a huge return for a very small investment.”

Rubin, a professor in the quantitative methods group within operations, technology and innovation management, specializes in mathematical optimization methods, the kind of guy who would think to reduce the variability of waiting time at the bank by taking all those separate queues for individual tellers and reorganizing them into a single line that feeds to the next available window. Every spring, as he has done since the drive’s inception 18 years ago, Rubin begins to think up the clever pitches he sends by e-mail to persuade faculty, staff and students to donate a pint of blood. Initially a reluctant donor himself, Rubin knows just what to say to counter arguments of the hesitant. Over the years, he has donated nearly 10 gallons of blood, a pint at a time. UNC Kenan-Flagler donors make up a small percent of the goal of 1,000 pints universitywide.

Coordinating Kenan-Flagler donors for UNC’s annual blood drive is only one of the ways Rubin donates his time and talent for the greater good. Over the past 16 years, he has raised more than $60,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society by rounding up sponsors for a 150-mile bike ride he pedals every year. This year, he is serving as president of his synagogue, a responsibility that seems to expand to fill his available time.

Throughout the 36 years he has taught at UNC Kenan-Flagler, Rubin has been an example to students and others of contributing to the community. His three children began donating blood and encouraging their friends to join them as soon as they were eligible. His then-14-year-old son pushed him to do that first 150-mile weekend bike trip for MS and still does charity rides as an adult. Buoyed by the generosity of his sponsors, Rubin continued to raise money and ride even after his son grew up and left home.

“Those who give, get; and those who get, give,” he told synagogue members in his president’s address on Yom Kippur. He urged the congregation to “Go forth and do small things.”

“As more and more of us do small things,” he said, “we’ll progress to ever larger impact in our communities.”