RICHARD L. RUBIN was for 27 years a professor of political science at Swarthmore College, where he taught courses on the intersection of race, ethnicity and public policy, as well as on the political culture of American Jews. He also served as director of Swarthmore’s public policy program, and founded the Richard Rubin Scholar Mentoring Program, which serves to advance the academic, social, and professional success of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Dr. Rubin graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University in 1951, and spent the next 17 years building, operating and ultimately selling a textile business. He went on to receive his Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in 1972, and then pursued his second career in academia first at Columbia University and later at Swarthmore College. His published works include Party Dynamics: The Democratic Coalition and the Politics of Change (Oxford University Press), and Press, Party, and Presidency (W. W. Norton and Company).
Dr. Rubin also served for 22 years as president and chairman of the Dedalus Foundation, a charitable foundation dedicated to fostering understanding of modern art and to promoting the legacy of the artist Robert Motherwell.