Harvey Ruvin
Harvey Ruvin is a graduate Industrial Engineer (University of Florida 1959). He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Miami Law School, 1962. Mr. Ruvin lives in Miami Beach with his wife, Risa. He has two sons, an adult son Eric and Zachary, a teenager. He is an avid exercise, fitness and health devotee, having been ranked as high as 16th in the nation by the American Racquetball Association.
His public career continues to be hallmarked by environmental advocacy and technological expertise.
- He was first elected to public office in 1968 at the age of 30. Serving as Mayor of the City of North Bay Village, he became one of the youngest mayors in Miami-Dade County history. In 1972, Ruvin was elected to the Metro Dade County Commission where he served till 1992, becoming the only person ever to be elected to five consecutive 4-year terms to the Commission.
- In 1992, he was elected to the Office of Miami-Dade County Clerk, was re-elected without opposition in 1996, 2000 and 2004. In 2008 was again re-elected with a countywide 76% majority. The Office's constitutional responsibilities include interaction with the County's Multi-Billion plus budget and financial management, Clerk of the Courts, Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners, Recorder of Deeds, Records Management and much more. The Agency has 1400 employees and a $80 million budget funded mostly from its own revenue collections. The Office serves a myriad of functions and touches all branches of local government.
Through over thirty years of community involvement, Harvey Ruvin, has performed a leadership role within scores of civic, cultural, environmental and charitable organizations. He has been the recipient of numerous awards ranging from the 1987 Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce "Man of the Year Award" to the coveted Tropical Audubon Society Conservation Award in 1981 and in 1985 (the only person ever to have been named twice). He has received environmental service awards from the Sierra Club as well as from the Environmental and Industry Association.
In 1981 he was singled out by the then President of the National Association of Counties as Outstanding County Official in the Nation. In 1989, Harvey Ruvin was named "County Leader of The Year" by American City and County Magazine.
The prestigious Washington-based Public Technology Institute named him as "2002 Public Technologist of the Year" in America, citing his efforts to employ emerging technologies to reengineer government processes, eliminating paper, achieving savings and efficiencies.
Winner of the Computerworld Magazine's "2004 Medal of Achievement" for utilizing technology to achieve massive savings and enhancing the public's accessibility to records.
Winner of the much coveted "2004 Public Administrator of the Year" awarded by the South Florida Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration.
Currently Chairs the Miami-Dade County Task Force on Climate Change developing recommendations for both mitigation as well as Adaptation of Climate Change impacts.
In 2008, he received the "Defender of Everglades Award" by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Friends of the Everglades.
In 2009, he was named the Inaugural Recipient of the Reitmeister-Abess Award for environmental advocacy by the University of Miami Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy.
To Harvey, his greatest honor came when "Naples", a rescued West Indian manatee gave birth to a male calf and the Seaquarium named the newborn "Harvey" in recognition of the Commissioner's work on behalf of the endangered species (Sept. 1990).
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