Former MTA Chairman and Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch passed away over the weekend, NY1 has learned. He was 89.  

Ravitch ran the MTA in the 1980s, working through an 11-day transit strike while also negotiating with private corporations for a train and bus buy-back program. He's often credited for pulling the transit agency back from the brink of bankruptcy.

Ravitch is also credited for helping the city through a fiscal crisis in the 1970s, when he led the state’s Urban Development Corporation.

Nearly two decades after leading the MTA, Ravitch was appointed lieutenant governor by former Gov. David Paterson, who took over following the resignation of Eliot Spitzer.  

Ravitch also worked for Major League Baseball as its chief labor negotiator.  

In a statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul called Ravitch a “titan” and a “brilliant leader.”

"Dick Ravitch was a titan of New York's civic world who left an indelible mark on our state, and he will be greatly missed. From steering the MTA through a critical time to serving as Lieutenant Governor, he was a steady, savvy, and brilliant leader and a public servant in the truest sense of the term. As governor, I greatly appreciated Dick's wisdom and thoughtful advice, and I know all New Yorkers have benefited from his contributions. I join his wife Kathy, his loved ones, friends, and all New Yorkers who knew him in mourning his passing and remembering his tremendous achievements,” Hochul said.

During a news conference at Penn Station Monday morning, current MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said Ravitch was a “giant” for everyone in the transportation business.

"He was the chairman of the MTA at maybe the lowest moment in the history of at least the subway system, and certainly the mass transit system in New York,” Lieber said. “In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, he led the beginnings of the turnaround of our great mass transit system."  

Ravitch is survived by his wife and two sons.