Former Broward County School Board Member, Political columnist Marty Rubinstein passed away on Sunday.
Rubinstein, 62, was in ICU with congestive heart failure and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He was receiving chemotherapy for his cancer; however, he was reacting well to it last week. Rubinstein announced a month ago that he has diabetes as well.
His family left this message on Facebook this morning.
I am sad to announce that dad is no longer with us. He fought with all his might until the very end. He got to hear some of the prayers that were said before he left us, so he knows he was loved by all of us. Funeral plans to be announced tomorrow morning. Thank you all. – Amanda, Diane and Nicole-
Rubinstein served as District 6 School Board Member from 2002 – 2006.
“I was a member of the Broward County School Board at least until I had the audacity to dare to fire Superintendent Frank Till. Call it courage instead because I knew what the likely outcome would be.” Said Rubinstein.
Not willing to retire, he created a local blog called Watching Sunrise in 2009, then Watching Tamarac, which covered their politics with a lot of opinions mixed in.
“The idea of covering cities was alluring, to say the least, but registering a domain name for every Broward city was just out of the reach of sanity. That’s the moment that the idea of Watching Broward was born.”
Rubinstein wrote his column for Watching Broward faithfully until his health took a turn in July. He said that what sets him apart from other writers is the unique position of having had experience on both sides of the dais.
Rubinstein was not only controversial for his columns. He also worked as a political consultant for the very people he wrote about. He had worked on the campaigns of Sunrise candidates, Commissioner Lawrence “Larry” Sofield, and Mayor Roger Wishner. He also worked with former Tamarac Commissioner Patte Atkins-Grad.
No matter how controversial Marty was, people read his columns. He was a great influence on the writer of this website, Tamarac Talk.
Readers can check his website, Watching Broward, where he last posted in July.
Goodbye, my friend.