Ruth Marcus Biography (Journalist)

Ruth Marcus is an American political commentator. Currently  she writes an op-ed column for The Washington Post.  She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in  March 2007.  Unusual among the majority of journalists, she is also a law school graduate, although she opted to continue with a career in journalism versus practicing law as an attorney. Ruth identifies as a liberal with the Democratic party ideologically and politically .

Ruth Marcus Age

Ruth was born on May 15, 1958 in Philadelphia. She is 61 years old as of 2019.

Ruth Marcus Family | Ruth Marcus Parents

Ruth was born in Philadelphia  and grew up in a Jewish family in Livingston, New Jersey. Her two parents were pharmacists. Ruth went to school in Livingston with and has remained a close friend of fellow columnist Mona Charen. She attended Yale University where she wrote for the college newspaper.

Ruth Marcus Husband

Ruth is married to former Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, a Democrat. Together they have two daughters, Emma and Julia Rachel.

Ruth calls herself “a poster child for work-family balance,” and after her daughters, Emma and Julia, were born, she reduced her work schedule and even took a year off. One day when Emma was sick, the school nurse went to call Ruth and the child piped up: “Don’t try the office, she doesn’t go there anymore, she just shops and goes to the gym.”

Ruth Marcus Washington Post | Ruth Marcus Columns

Marcus wrote for the National Law Journal  after receiving her Yale B.A. degree Before attending Harvard Law School,she received her J.D. degree in 1984.

Ruth started writing for The Washington Post while still in law school, and formally joined the paper after graduation.

Since 1984 Ruth has been with The Post.  In 1986 she joined the national staff , covering campaign finance, the Justice Department, the Supreme Court and the White House. She served as deputy national editor, supervising reporters who covered money and politics, Congress, the Supreme Court, and other national issues from 1999 through 2002 . Ruth joined the editorial board in 2003 and started writing a regular column in 2006.

As her “voice” strengthened, she started writing occasional columns for the Post op-ed page and absorbed some hard lessons.

The move to editorial writing was not easy for Ruth. “I’m not a natural partisan, I’m a natural reporter,” she insists. “I didn’t know if I’d be able to pull the trigger” and make the “hard calls” that editorial writing demands. “I didn’t know that I was going to develop a voice as an opinion writer. It just kind of all happened.”

Ruth Marcus Net Worth

Ruth has never disclosed her estimated net worth.

Ruth Marcus Twitter

Tweets by RuthMarcus