14 Facts About Tom Rukavina

Tom Rukavina was a St Louis County commissioner from 2015 to 2018.

Tom Rukavina first held elected office in the 1970s on the Virginia school board and the Pike Town Board.

Tom Rukavina was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for thirteen terms, serving from 1987 to 2013.

Tom Rukavina represented District 5A, which included the Mesabi Range in St Louis County in northeastern Minnesota.

Tom Rukavina proposed a bill that would ban the sale of foreign-made American flags in Minnesota.

In 2009, Tom Rukavina opposed allowing the University of Minnesota to sell beer and wine only in premium seats at TCF Bank Stadium.

Tom Rukavina insisted that the University alter its policy to sell alcohol to all legal drinkers throughout the stadium, including its own students.

On July 23,2009, Tom Rukavina filed paperwork for an exploratory committee for Governor of Minnesota, making his candidacy official in early September at Bayfront Park in Duluth.

Tom Rukavina was arrested on July 31,2004, for fourth-degree drunk driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.15.

Tom Rukavina was married to Jean who previously had three children and Tom Rukavina had two children.

Ida Tom Rukavina was then Executive Director of the Range Association of Municipalities and Schools starting in July 2021 before being appointed by MN Governor Tim Walz as the new commissioner of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board in December 2022.

Tom Rukavina was friends with late US Senator Paul Wellstone, who was flying to attend the funeral of Rukavina's father when his plane fatally crashed in October 2002.

Tom Rukavina died of leukemia on January 7,2019, at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis, aged 68.

US Senator Klobuchar said that: "Tom Rukavina understood the dignity of hard work, and was a force for Iron Range workers and their families".