Ruth Rappaport was born in 1924 in Berlin. When Hitler came to power in 1933, she and her family left Germany and immigrated to Israel, then Palestine. After several years in Tel Aviv, her parents decided to make their home in Haifa. At age 18, while studying at the Levinsky College of Education, she met Bruce Rappaport, the love of her life, and she shared the joy of building a family together and 65 wonderful years with him. As Bruce’s business flourished, Ruth and Bruce’s commitment to serving the greater community began to unfold. They would come to donate their wealth to the fields of medicine and scientific research, education, culture and sport, in Israel in particular, but also around the world.

Ruth Rappaport was active in WIZO for over fifty years, serving as Chairperson of WIZO Geneva for 17 of those years. In recent years, she served as the Associate Chairperson of the International Council of WIZO worldwide. In her role as Chairperson, she focused on raising and investing funds, as well as establishing a sheltered daycare center in the city of Sderot and five daycare centers in Haifa, Jerusalem and Nesher, among others. Ruth was not only involved in these projects from their initial planning stages through their execution and launch, but remained involved in their ongoing activities, reflecting her philosophy that, "The future lies in our children and families and any amount collected today will bear fruits for future generations."

Since 1978, Ruth served as Chairperson of the Inter Maritime Foundation, established in 1973 to promote humanitarian projects.

The Rappaports began their love affair with art back in the 1950s when they started building their collection. Their first purchases were lithographs by Chagall and Mané-Katz, and over time, they purchased some original pieces. An avid art collector, Ruth enjoyed a highly developed aesthetic sense, thorough knowledge of the history of art and a great love for paintings. The common - link evident in all the works of art in her collection is “man and his environment”, expressing her empathy for the artist and his work. In 2007, Ruth opened her collection for public viewing at the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Gallery, to celebrate the Bruce’s 85th birthday.

Ruth passed away in 2018, at the age of 94, and is survived by her four daughters and their families, all of whom are continuing her and Bruce's legacy and the philanthropic foundation, The Bruce and Ruth Rappaport Foundation, which lives on to disseminate their philosophy.