Ruth Messinger

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Ruth Wyler Messinger (born November 6, 1940) is a former political leader in New York City and a member of the Democratic Party. She was the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City in 1997, losing to incumbent mayor Rudy Giuliani. She is married to Andrew Lachman, her second husband, and has three children. She is currently the CEO of American Jewish World Service, an international development agency.

Born and raised in New York, Messinger graduated from Radcliffe College in 1962 and received a Master of Social Work from the University of Oklahoma in 1964. Messinger was a delegate to the 1980 Democratic National Convention and served on the New York City Council from 1978 to 1989, representing the Upper West Side of Manhattan. In the City Council, she proposed extending rent control from individuals to businesses. From 1990 to 1998, she served as Manhattan borough president, an office she gave up to run for mayor in the 1997 election.

A political liberal, Messinger was known for her aggressive media work and frequent press conferences. According to her 1997 website, she is pro-choice and opposes the death penalty. During her 1997 campaign, she was nearly forced into a Democratic primary runoff with Reverend Al Sharpton, but avoided it by receiving 40% of the vote during a recount.

On the night before the 1997 mayoral election, President Bill Clinton held a rally for Messinger at a hotel in Manhattan. The rally was free and open to the public. Although the crowd cheered for Clinton, they liked Messinger more, interrupting Clinton periodically with shouts of "Ruth! Ruth! Ruth!"

In 2005, Messinger endorsed Fernando Ferrer for mayor in the 2005 mayoral election. Ferrer had briefly run against her for mayor in 1997, before dropping out to run for reelection as Bronx borough president.

Since the late 1990s she has been CEO of American Jewish World Service. In late 2005, following a high-profile year that included the Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, The Forward, the American Jewish newspaper of record, named her to the top of its annual "Forward Fifty" list of the most influential American Jews. Messinger is also a board member of Hazon.

[edit] See also

• New York City mayoral election, 1997

Messinger has also fought long and hard to end the atrocities and genocide in Darfur. She has even been there herself.

Hazon is Jewish Environmentalist organization that funds and creates programs to stimulate environmental awareness and protection. Their main source of income is through sponsored bike rides.

[edit] External links

• American Jewish World Service website
• Ruth Messinger biography
• Article on Ruth Messinger in Slate Magazine
• Ruth97.org from archive.org
• Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution from the Jewish Women's Archive
• Hazon website