29 Facts About Richard Ravitch

Richard Ravitch was an American politician and businessman who served as the lieutenant governor of New York from 2009 to 2010.

Richard Ravitch was appointed to the position in July 2009 by New York Governor David Paterson.

Richard Ravitch's father was a co-founder of HRH Construction Corporation, which eventually grew to have offices in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.

Richard Ravitch was a member of the third generation of the family to run the company.

Richard Ravitch was educated at Oberlin College and Columbia University, earning an undergraduate degree in American history with Phi Beta Kappa honors from the latter institution in 1955.

Richard Ravitch then received his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1958.

Richard Ravitch served in the US Army for a short time after his graduation from Yale and 1960 marriage to Diane Silvers.

Richard Ravitch joined his family's business, HRH Construction, in 1960.

Richard Ravitch's focus was low- and middle-income housing projects, and some notable developments he was responsible for were Waterside Plaza, Riverbend, and Manhattan Plaza, all in Manhattan.

Richard Ravitch built the first integrated housing projects in Washington, DC, with James H Scheuer.

In 1975 Richard Ravitch was appointed by New York State governor Hugh Carey as chairman of the New York State Urban Development Corporation.

Richard Ravitch was responsible for salvaging the finances of the organization, which Carey had found was nearly insolvent.

Richard Ravitch was approved for the job, and did not accept a salary for his work.

Richard Ravitch was described as throwing himself "into the job unsparingly", recapitalizing the system, building the Metro-North Railroad from other existing lines, and improving labor relations.

Richard Ravitch was assigned a bodyguard and he began wearing a bulletproof vest at some public events and security was provided for his family.

The bank had been losing money for several years, and Richard Ravitch formed an investment group that included Laurence Tisch, Lionel Pincus, and Warren Buffett to take over the bank as an alternative to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation liquidating it.

Richard Ravitch briefly considered a run for mayor of New York City in 1977 that met with a "lukewarm response"; he later made a serious run for the Democratic nomination in 1989.

Richard Ravitch was endorsed by one of the city's major newspapers, the Daily News, just before the primary, but placed third in that primary, which Dinkins won.

Richard Ravitch's candidacy was described after the primary as being run in the face of "predictable defeat".

The players' union held Richard Ravitch partly responsible for causing the strike, which others thought was an unfair accusation.

Richard Ravitch was replaced by Randy Levine as the owners' representative in 1995.

In 1995, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani picked Richard Ravitch to become the new chancellor of the city's school system, but Richard Ravitch withdrew his name from consideration because he said he believed the school system needed major structural reform.

Richard Ravitch was appointed by New York governor David Paterson in 2008 to assist in fixing the finances of the MTA, and was a delegate for Barack Obama in the 2008 election.

Richard Ravitch was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor at 8:45 pm on July 8,2009, while eating dinner at Peter Luger Steak House in Brooklyn.

On July 21,2009, New York Supreme Court Justice William R LaMarca issued a preliminary injunction against Ravitch performing any duties of the office.

Richard Ravitch worked with Christopher O Ward to turn around construction at World Trade Center site.

In 2012, Richard Ravitch co-chaired the State Budget Crisis Task Force with Paul Volcker.

Richard Ravitch married Diane Richard Ravitch in 1960; they had two sons.

Richard Ravitch died at a hospital in Manhattan on June 25,2023, at age 89.