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From ETHAN STARK-MILLER
Ruth Mullen was known in many circles throughout her life. But in this corner of the Bronx, she’s probably best known for her strong political activism.
That was perhaps most visible when Alessandra Biaggi ousted Jeffrey Klein from the Senate three years ago. Ruth worked tirelessly on this campaign, says husband Jim Bradley, and coordinated many of that efforts with the Riverdale Huddle – a local group of politically active women.
But Ruth’s life was tragically cut short last week when she simply tried to cross the street in front of her home on Johnson Avenue. Police say that a Metropolitan Transportation Authority express bus rounded a dangerous corner for many with Kappock Street at around 8:30 p.m. on September 7 and hit Ruth at the zebra crossing. Ruth was 68.
The incident was all the more devastating as Ruth spent years campaigning for traffic lights at this problematic intersection. Instead, elected officials like Jeffrey Dinowitz secured a third stop sign for the intersection – a neighbor says buses and cars generally pass through anyway.
When the news of Ruth’s death broke early Wednesday morning, one of the first people to call Jim was the state senator.
“Alessandra told me she wouldn’t have been elected without Ruth,” Bradley said. “When Alessandra tried to decide whether or not to run away, she met with the huddle. And I remember that day Ruth came back and said, ‘She’s the right one. She’s the one who does it. ‘ And she just left all her support behind. “
Ruth was always politically active, said Jim. But it was Donald Trump’s surprise election against Hillary Clinton in 2016 that inspired her to take it to a new level.
“She cried every day,” said Jim. “And then she was busy. And she said, ‘We’re going to find out and we’re going to fix it. We have to start locally and we’ll just keep going. ‘”
That choice was a “life changing moment” for many of us, added Jim. “But above all for her. I relaxed and helped as best I could. But she leaned forward really hard. “
The Trump White House also inspired Ruth to join the Riverdale Huddle just a month after the former President’s inauguration – and just weeks after the group was formed. The Huddle became one of Ruth’s favorite communities, said Jim, until she never missed any of their weekly get-togethers at An Beal Bocht Café.
Huddle colleague Elizabeth Cooke-Levy said Ruth’s influence on the group was significant, often moving them from discussing an issue to real policy action.
“There are other people who will talk about injustice, Ruth wasn’t a great speaker,” Cooke-Levy said. “When she spoke, she would give us relevant information on a topic and suggest or even ask us to volunteer.”
Ruth, for example, was outraged by partisan gerrymandering when it came to drawing the boundaries of districts for elected officials, and she would urge that the issue be kept high on the group’s agenda. She wouldn’t stop there, said Cooke-Levy. Ruth held postcard writing sessions in her apartment and used these handwritten messages from other Huddle members to influence politics not only in New York but in other states suffering from gerrymandering.
“She would keep the whole thing happy and positive and welcoming,” said Cooke-Levy. “And at the same time to motivate all these people to be there. It would move me from a rather distant concern about something to actually show up and do some volunteer work. “
Ruth also worked as an election worker for many years, said another Huddle member, Ellen Chapnick. Though not political, it demonstrated Ruth’s passion for securing and protecting people’s suffrage.
“And (she) really wanted people to have an electoral system that was protected by people who respect integrity,” Chapnick said. “She was very knowledgeable about the ballots and how good they were or not. And about petitions.
But it wasn’t just the way people sometimes do it out of their minds. She cared very much about the underlying things of all of this. “
Ruth was a particularly powerful advocate for her neighbors at Winston Churchill. She even ran to her 2500 Johnson Ave. and built on the county committee, Chapnick said – a position she ultimately didn’t win.
“She had courage,” said Chapnick. “If she thought something needed to be done – even if it annoyed and angry some of those in power – she did what she thought was right. She wouldn’t be intimidated by people just because they were powerful politicians in the community. They didn’t care to please people. “
“Loved by many”
But Ruth’s influence extends far beyond her political activism, said Jim.
She was born and raised in Littleton, Colorado, a small town of 42,000 people about 10 miles south of Denver. She graduated from Colorado College in the early 1970s and shortly thereafter moved east to New York, where she earned her Masters in History from Columbia University.
After that, Ruth really got into two areas, Jim said – publishing and film. And she spent a lot of time being successful in both.
“She’s worked in every imaginable part of the publishing industry,” said Jim. “Including work in the Strand Book Store. She worked as a writer. She worked as an editor. She worked as a proofreader. She worked for many of the major publishers, (like) McGraw Hill. “
Ruth then switched to film and got her first job on the set of Sergio Leone’s 1984 crime epic “Once Upon a Time in America”. She rose in the ranks, Jim said, worked in the production offices of many prominent directors, and ended up running them.
Her work included Susan Seidelman’s 1985 drama Desperately Seeking Susan and a section directed by Francis Ford Coppola in the 1989 anthology New York Stories entitled Life Without Zoë.
After the film, Ruth returned to publishing, said Jim, working as a freelancer, editor and even a ghostwriter. In 2016, she joined the board of the Editorial Freelancers Association and advocated the labor rights of other contractors. At the beginning of the year she was elected deputy managing director of the association.
Ruth met Jim while working on the set of Joe Stone’s 1990 independent film Coupe de Ville, which was filmed in North Carolina with the likes of Patrick Dempsey and Alan Arkin.
“That’s how we met and fell in love,†recalls Jim.
“She was my best friend for 32 years. She was my life and my lover. And she was the person I went to when I needed answers to difficult questions. And I don’t have it now – and that’s very difficult. “
They moved to Winston Churchill in 1994 and expanded their family by adopting daughters Lia and Maya.
No matter what part of Ruth’s life you look at, Jim said her presence can be felt everywhere – not just in their common home in Spuyten Duyvil, but in the community itself.
“She made a difference,” he said. “She was a force to be reckoned with. She had a really interesting, varied and great life. And she was loved by many people. “
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