Penn IUR Mourns the Passing of Richard Ravitch

With deep sadness and heavy hearts, Penn IUR mourns the passing of Penn IUR Fellow Richard Ravitch.

Richard Ravitch was a leading attorney, entrepreneur, and public official, engaged in both private and public enterprise for more than 50 years. He began his career as a principal of the HRH Construction Corporation, where he supervised the development, financing, and construction of over 45,000 units of affordable housing in New York, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and other locations. In 1975, he was appointed chairman of the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) by Governor Hugh Carey. The UDC, a “moral obligation” financing and development agency with 30,000 dwelling units under construction, had become insolvent and faced the first municipal bankruptcy since the 1930s.

From 1975 to 1976, Ravitch assisted New York City and State officials in resolving the city’s defaults. In 1979, he was appointed chairman and chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), where he recruited operating officials from the private sector with experience in marketing as well as management and operations, and developed a long-term capital plan, budget, and financing for a system-wide upgrade of operating equipment, roadbed, and signal capabilities. For his MTA work, he was awarded the American Public Transit Association’s Individual of the Year Award in 1982.

Following his MTA service, Ravitch led the effort to recapitalize The Bowery Savings Bank, once the nation’s largest mutual savings bank, arranging for its acquisition from FDIC by an investor group and serving as chairman and chief executive. Subsequently, Ravitch was retained by the owners of the Major League Baseball clubs to serve as president of the Player Relations Committee and oversee the creation of a revenue sharing plan and proposal for players.

In 1999, Ravitch was appointed co-chair of the Millennial Housing Commission to examine the federal government’s role in meeting the nation’s growing affordable housing challenges. He then served as lieutenant governor of the State of New York and was co-chair of the State Budget Crisis Task Force with former chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul A. Volcker.

For the past decade Ravitch was a strong supporter of Penn IUR, often speaking at events on public finance and writing the forward to the Penn IUR - Penn Press book, Public Pensions and City Solvency. Most recently, Penn IUR engaged Ravitch in the Special Briefing series, in collaboration with the Volcker Alliance, where he was a director. Ravitch spoke at several Special Briefing events, including one focused on state and local leadership, and another centered on fiscal challenges in the wake of COVID-19. He was scheduled to join Penn IUR at a roundtable discussion on municipal finance that we hosted last month before his health prevented him from joining us. 

His presence will be sorely missed but his legacy of public citizenship and financial savvy will live on.