Eduard Hurvits

Eduard Hurvits
Едуард Гурвіц
Gurvits in 2016
71st Mayor of Odesa
In office
July 1994 – 26 May 1998
Preceded byLeonid Cherneha
Succeeded byRouslan Bodelan
In office
5 April 2005 – 6 November 2010
Preceded byRouslan Bodelan
Succeeded byOleksiy Kostusyev
People's Deputy of Ukraine
In office
27 March 1994 – 26 March 2006
Preceded by
  • Yuriy Romanov [uk] (Odesa Oblast, No. 294)
  • Constituency established (Odesa Oblast, No. 136)
Succeeded by
  • Constituency abolished (Odesa Oblast, No. 294)
  • Serhii Kivalov (Odesa Oblast, No. 136)
Constituency
  • Odesa Oblast, No. 294 (1994–1998)
  • Odesa Oblast, No. 136 (1998–2002)
  • NUNS, No. 46 (2002–2006)
In office
28 October 2012 – 26 October 2014
ConstituencyUkrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform, No. 17
Personal details
Born (1948-01-30) 30 January 1948 (age 76)
Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
(now Ukraine)
Political partyYeS (since 2014)
Other political
affiliations
Military service
Allegiance Soviet Union
Branch/serviceSoviet Army
Years of service1971–1972
RankPrivate
UnitStrategic Rocket Forces

Eduard Yosypovych Hurvits (Ukrainian: Едуард Йосипович Гурвіц; Yiddish: רד יאָסיפּאָוויטש גוּרוויץ, romanizedEduard Iosipovitsh Gurvitz; born 30 January 1948) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the 71st mayor of Odesa on two occasions; first from July 1994 to 26 May 1998, and then from 5 April 2005 to 6 November 2010. He also served as a People's Deputy of Ukraine on two occasions, from 27 March 1994 to 26 March 2006 and from 28 October 2012 to 26 October 2014.

Born into a Jewish family in western Ukraine, Hurvits served in the Soviet Army for one year before becoming a construction foreman in the southwestern Soviet Union. A participant in Odesan politics since 1990, Hurvits became both mayor of Odesa and a People's Deputy of Ukraine as a member of the People's Movement of Ukraine. As mayor, Hurvits clashed frequently with President Leonid Kuchma, and was removed following his re-election in 1998.

Remaining in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament), Hurvits became an early supporter of Viktor Yushchenko and the Orange Revolution, and was re-elected as mayor in April 2005. Hurvits' second term, however, ended in an unsuccessful attempt at re-election, with the failed attempt to host UEFA Euro 2012 in the city being a key reason for Gurvits' removal. Hurvits subsequently re-entered the Verkhovna Rada as a member of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform in 2012, serving until the Revolution of Dignity.