Ira Ruskin

Ira Ruskin
Ira Ruskin
Member of the California State Assembly; from the 21st district
	In office; December 6, 2004 – November 30, 2010
Preceded by	Joe Simitian
Succeeded by	Rich Gordon
Personal details
Born	November 12, 1943; New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	July 3, 2014 (aged 70); Redwood City, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Cheryl Ruskin
Residence	Redwood City
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley; Stanford University
Occupation	Politician

Ira Ruskin (November 12, 1943 – July 3, 2014) was an

American politician from Redwood City, California. A Democrat, he is a former member of the California State Assembly and of Redwood City Council. He and his wife Cheryl (a licensed landscape designer) resided in Redwood City, California

; the couple had no children.

Education

He received a B.A. in history from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968 and an M.A. in communications (with an emphasis on filmmaking) from Stanford University in 1983. ^{[citation needed]}

Political career

From 1995 to 2004, Ruskin was a member of the

Republican Steve Poizner in the general election. Ruskin had local government experience but initially lacked major campaign funding. The Assembly race heated up when Poizner donated $6 million to his own campaign. Ruskin began fundraising from California's public employee unions and ultimately won the race.^[1]

In November 2006 Ruskin was re-elected to the California State Assembly by a wide margin, 67.4% to his challenger Virginia Chang Kiraly's 32.6%.[1] He was re-elected to his third Assembly term in 2008. Term limits in California prevented Ruskin from running for re-election in 2010. Ruskin planned to run for a State Senate seat in 2012.^[2]