Eduard Gurwits

Eduard Yosipovich Gurvits (Ukrainian: Едуард Йосипович Гурвіц; Russian: Эдуард Иосифович Гурвиц; Yiddish: עדואָרד יאָסיפּאָוויטש גוּרוויץ‎; born 30 January 1948) is a Ukrainian politician, Mayor of Odessa in 1994–1998 and from 2005 to 6 November 2010.

Eduard Iosifovich Gurvits was born on 30 January 1948 in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, in the Vinnytsia Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. 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 Odesa'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.

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' support of former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko.

...
Wikipedia