Eduard Gurwits
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Eduard Yosipovich Gurvits (Ukrainian: Едуард Йосипович Гурвіц, Russian: Эдуард Иосифович Гурвиц, Hebrew: עדוארד יוסיפוביץ' גורביץ, Yiddish: עדוּאָרד יאָסיפּאָוויטש גוּרוויץ, ; born January 30, 1948) is a Ukrainian politician, Mayor of Odessa in 1994–1998 and since 2005.
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[edit] Biography
Edward Yosipovich Gurvits was born on January 30, 1948 in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, in the Vinnytsia region of Ukraine. He attended the Leningrad Engineering and Construction Institute and graduated as an Engineer of Communications. Gurvits was drafted into the Soviet Army in 1971, where he served as a private in the Strategic Rocket Forces. After leaving the army he worked as a master construction foreman in Moldova and Odessa. In 1987, he created and headed one of the first Soviet manufacturing co-operatives, the Experimental and Creative Studio 'Ekopolis'. In May, 1990, he was elected head of Odessa's Zhovtnevy district council and in 1991 became the head of the Zhovtnevy district executive committee. In April, 1994, Gurvits was elected Deputy of Verkhovna Rada in Ukraine and in July, 1994 was elected Mayor of Odessa.
[edit] Events of 1998
In March 1998, Edward Yosipovich Gurvits was re-elected as mayor, by a margin of 70,000 votes. Due to pressure by then President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, the Kirovograd Regional Court of Appeal declared the elections void. The same court barred Gurvits from participating in further election. It is speculated that these events were influenced by Gurvits's support of former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko.
Gurvits survived two assassination attempts and two of his close associates - Igor Svoboda and Sergey Varlamov - were kidnapped. (The body of Varlamov was recovered in 2005). Also in 1998, Gurvits was elected Deputy of Verkhovna Rada from the Suvorovsky district of Odessa.
[edit] Later developments
In 2002, Gurvits participated in new mayoral elections, but lost to Rouslan Borisovich Bodelan. Later, in 2005, the Primorsky district court of Odessa declared the elections invalid and proclaimed Edward Yossyfovych Gurwits Mayor of Odessa. During the 2006 elections, Gurwits was formally elected Mayor of Odessa. He supported the pro-President Viktor Yushchenko political bloc, Eduard Gurvits's Bloc Our Odessa, during the simultaneous Odessa city council elections.
[edit] Private life
Edward Gurvits is divorced. He has two children: a daughter, Evgenia, born in 1975, who lives in Kiev and a son, Stanislav, born in 1983, who lives in Haifa, Israel. He also has two grandchildren: Masha, born in 1996, and Misha, born in 1999, who are living together with their parents in Kiev.
