Services set for Harvey Ruvin, 85, the veteran Miami clerk turned environmental rapper

Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin, Miami-Dade County’s longest-serving elected official, and a noted environmentalist who once did a rap video in his 70s at the urging of film legend Robert Redford, died on New Year’s Eve at 85. The cause was cancer, his family said.

Services have been set for 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 5, at the Dade County Auditorium, which holds more than 2,300 seats, at 2901 W. Flagler St. in Miami. A viewing, at 10 a.m., precedes the services. Both services will be open to the public and the family asks that donations can be made to the Harvey Ruvin Memorial Fund via The Miami Foundation.

Ruvin, who was born in New York City, was elected mayor of North Bay Village in 1968, when he was 30. Since then, his name in public service has been prominent in South Florida through two decades on the Miami-Dade County Commission — from 1972 into the 1980s — and, since 1992, his clerk of courts position. He never lost an elected position.

Ruvin earned a bachelor of industrial engineering degree from the University of Florida in 1959 and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1962. He was also an avid sports fan, his family said. Great sports loves? The Dodgers and Miami Heat. Played racquetball, too.

“His legacy was that he was so versatile,” Miami historian Paul George told the Miami Herald for his obituary on Saturday.

How versatile?

Old school rapper

Ruvin may not be included on lists of the oldest rappers, which include Grandmaster Flash, who turned 65 on New Year’s Day and Ice-T, soon to be 65 in February.

And Ruvin’s not the oldest to venture into the rap game, which would probably be Sweden’s Greta Segerson, who started rapping at 93 (she died in 2016 at 101), according to Fashionuer.

But, Ruvin, one of Miami-Dade’s earliest advocates for climate action dating back to one of the most tumultuous years in American history — 1968 — when he sought out and befriended famed futurist R. Buckminster Fuller and discovered his “noble life purpose,” rapped to save the environment when he was about 71.

READ MORE: He rapped about climate change. Now this Miami politician wants Jeff Bezos’ billions

Environmental activism

Ruvin did his “Maybe Just Maybe” eco-friendly rap video at the urging of Redford, star of “The Sting” and “The Way We Were,” whom he met at a meeting of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives in Sundance, Utah. After Ruvin’s spoken word presentation in the early 2000s, Redford reportedly told the clerk of courts he ought to set it to music.

The video, on YouTube, spawned the comment “This dude spits hot fire” five years ago.

Take that, Grandmaster Flash.

Ruvin also led Miami-Dade’s Sea Level Rise Task Force in 2015.

He once told Miami Today that he never considered holding office outside Miami-Dade. “In local government, you pass an ordinance and immediately get feedback. You can make changes, tailor things. The county commission was much more interactive and fulfilling,” he had said.

“With the support of our people and the commitment of our elected officials, we can continue to build a future South Florida that not only will remain viable, but one that will also accelerate our emerging status as one of the most vibrant and resilient regions in the world,” Ruvin wrote in an editorial about the threat of sea level rise that was published in the Herald in 2018.

Livestream services

Ruvin’s survivors include his wife, Risa; sons Zachary and Eric; granddaughter Jessica; and his sister Marcy.

His Thursday morning services will be streamed live, beginning with the 10 a.m. viewing, on Miami-Dade County’s YouTube page at www.youtube.com/@MiamiDadeCounty

After Ruvin’s death, chief judge names interim clerk for Miami-Dade courts