Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Richard Ravitch, savior of NYC subway, dies at 89
By
Clayton Guse
and
Stephen Nessen
Published Jun 26, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Stephen Nessen
By
Clayton Guse
and
Stephen Nessen
Published Jun 26, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Richard Ravitch, a former lieutenant governor who helped save the city’s finances and transit systems from the brink of collapse, died on Sunday night. He was 89.
His death at a hospital around 10:30 p.m. Sunday was confirmed by his ex-wife, prominent education activist Diane Ravitch.
A longstanding civic leader and central figure in modern New York history, Ravitch had a hand in nearly every facet of the city for the last six decades— from real estate to transportation to politics. When New York City faced a crisis, elected leaders often turned to Ravitch for guidance.
He entered public service in 1975, when Gov. Hugh Carey appointed Ravitch to lead the state Urban Development Corporation, which was established to build low- and middle-income housing funded through municipal bonds. The agency and the city government at large were on the verge of insolvency that year, and Ravitch negotiated new lines of credit and financial arrangements that helped prevent both from going bankrupt.
In 1979, Carey appointed Ravitch MTA chairman. The subway system was crumbling, beset with frequent breakdowns and record-high delays.
Ravitch pushed through state legislation in 1981 that allowed the MTA to take out loans backed by fares, tolls and new taxes that would pay for a vast mass transit improvement program.
“That was in many ways my greatest achievement in my life, to get those laws passed,” Ravitch told Gothamist in April. “That’s what provided the MTA with the capital to rebuild.”
To a large extent, the MTA continues to rely on a business model developed by Ravitch.
"Dick Ravitch was a titan of New York's civic world who left an indelible mark on our State, and he will be greatly missed. From steering the MTA through a critical time to serving as Lieutenant Governor, he was a steady, savvy, and brilliant leader and a public servant in the truest sense of the term. As Governor, I greatly appreciated Dick's wisdom and thoughtful advice, and I know all New Yorkers have benefited from his contributions," Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement.
The son of real estate developer, Ravitch joined his family’s business, HRH Construction, in the 1960s and oversaw the development of residential housing projects, like Waterside Plaza on Manhattan’s East Side and Manhattan Plaza on the West Side.
“When he started in the construction industry in the early 1960s, others built luxury housing and he was in town building middle-income housing,” said Dianne Ravitch, who was married to Richard until 1986. “He was a man of enormous integrity.”
Despite holding so much influence over modern New York politics and policies, Ravitch was never elected to public office, only appointed. Former Gov. David Paterson selected Ravitch to serve as lieutenant governor in 2009 amid a particularly chaotic time in the New York politics following the resignation of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Ravitch ran for the Democratic nomination for Mayor in 1989, but placed third in the polls. Then-Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins won the election, ousting incumbent Mayor Ed Koch from City Hall.
During an interview in 2019, Ravitch said he ate dinner with Koch at a Chinese restaurant in Midtown the night Dinkins was announced the winner.
“A woman came up to me at the restaurant and said, ‘Mr. Ravitch, I want you to know I voted for you,’” he recalled. “Ed Koch is sitting right there, and says, ‘What am I? Chopped liver?’”
Ravitch led a state-appointed commission that in 2008 issued recommendations to reform New York’s public authorities, which for decades operated with little public oversight.
The recommendations resulted in the state Public Authorities Reform Act of 2009, which gave board members of public authorities like the MTA more independence from elected officials. Instead of serving at the will of governors, mayors and legislative leaders who appointed them, the law required public authority board members to be “fiduciaries” and only act in the interest of the agencies they served.
Ravitch was an elder statesman in New York’s political circles, known for his blunt assessments of elected leaders.
The problem with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Ravitch said in 2021, is “no one has ever liked him.” His experience as lieutenant governor under Paterson was “without a doubt, the most useless experience of my life."
Ravitch’s legacy will be “one of steadfast discipline, criticism and honesty about government,” Paterson told Gothamist Monday.
Reporters and political insiders looked to him for insight gleaned from his life’s work alongside some of New York’s most influential figures.
Ravitch recalled to Gothamist a meeting he had with power broker Robert Moses two weeks after he took the helm at the MTA in 1979. “What I remember above all is Moses said, 'Ravitch, you got to do for the subways what I did for cars,’" he recalled.
Brigid Bergin contributed reporting
Tagged
new york city
Politics
transportation
Clayton Guse
Clayton is the editor of the Transit and Infrastructure desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
Read more
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
5 men charged with trespassing in 2 Manhattan manhole cases
Two people who were found soaking wet and smelling of sewage say they went underground to look for jewelry, according to police and a criminal complaint.
By
Charles Lane
Published Oct 23, 2026 at 7:49 p.m. ET
6-year-old girl breaks leg after getting hit by falling bricks in Queens
The girl was walking with her mother in Maspeth on Thursday. The Department of Buildings cited the owner of a garage for “failure to maintain” it.
By
Charles Lane
News
6-year-old girl breaks leg after getting hit by falling bricks in Queens
The girl was walking with her mother in Maspeth on Thursday. The Department of Buildings cited the owner of a garage for “failure to maintain” it.
By
Charles Lane
Mamdani extends ban on permits for new street fairs due to NYPD overtime
By
Carol Chen
Inside the Midtown Bus Terminal rebuild: Decks over Lincoln Tunnel approach, a new park
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Black couple seeking Queens apartment sues over racist text from broker
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .