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. He is an avid exercise, fitness and health devotee, having been ranked as high as 16th in the nation by the American Amateur Racquetball Association.
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.
In 1987, elected by his peers across the nation, he served as President of the National Association of Counties leading America’s 3200 County Governments. In 1989, Harvey Ruvin was named national “County Leader of the Year” by American City and County Magazine.
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, leading the total Ballot with 542,469 votes, the most ever for any office or issue in the history of Miami-Dade County. Again re-elected without opposition in 2012 and he is seeking re-election in 2016.
Harvey Ruvin has performed a leadership role within scores of civic, cultural, environmental and charitable organizations. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious Washington-based Public Technology Institute award naming him the “2003 Public Technologist of the Year” in America, citing his efforts to employ emerging technologies to re-engineer government processes, eliminating paper, achieving fiscal savings and efficiencies. His goal of total transformation of court records and e-filing into a fully paperless format is well on its way to achieving Harvey’s goal of serving more and more of our people online rather than in-line, leading the State and perhaps the nation. Our Clerk’s office went online with nearly 20 Million documents and court records.
His public career continues to be hallmarked by his commitment to improve the lives of the citizens of Miami-Dade County and to use his technological expertise to help solve the problems of providing needed services to the people in a cost-effective way while protecting the environment and our quality of life.
In 2004 he won Computerworld Magazine’s “2004 Medal of Achievement” for utilizing technology to achieve massive savings and enhancing the public’s accessibility to records. Clerk Ruvin, having made an effective transition from county commissioner to an extensively Administrative role, received the much coveted “2004 Public Administrator of the Year” awarded by the South Florida Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration.
In 2008, he received the “Defender of the Everglades Award” by the Marjory Stonenman 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.
Citing his environmental expertise, the County Commission appointed Harvey to Chair a Task Force on Sea Level Rise, which recommended a series of proactive steps to make the County more resilient, including ways to protect our drinking water.
Some of his other many awards include 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. Most recently was named Citizen of the Year for 2014 by the Minority Chamber of Commerce.
To Harvey, his greatest honor so far came when “Naples”, a rescued West Indian manatee gave birth to a male calf and the Miami Seaquarium named the newborn “Harvey” in recognition of the Commissioner’s work on behalf of the endangered species (Sept. 1990).
