Labor journalist Rubin Levin was born in Poland in 1902. In 1904 the Levin family immigrated to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. In 1913 they moved to Milwaukee. The elder Levin was a poor peddler, and as a youth Rubin Levin sold newspapers, shined shoes, and sold ice. In 1920 he matriculated at Milwaukee State Normal School. He transferred to the University of Wisconsin in 1922 with the intention of studying electrical engineering but soon shifted to journalism and began working on a part-time basis for the Capital Times. After his graduation in 1926 Levin continued to work for the Capital Times, briefly moving to the Milwaukee Sentinel before resigning in 1928 to travel and broaden his professional experience. Over the next three years Levin roamed the United States, Canada, and Europe, working for nine different newspapers. In 1931 he returned to Milwaukee where he worked for the Sentinel and married Bertha Greenberg. In 1936 he became associated with the Milwaukee Leader. During his career in Milwaukee Levin primarily covered local politics and labor issues. He also served as publicity director for both the reelection campaign of Mayor Daniel Hoan and the Farmer-Labor Progressive Federation.
In 1938 Levin left Milwaukee for Washington, D.C. to join the staff of Labor, a weekly publication of an association of railroad unions. In this capacity he reported on the National Railway Mediation Board, the National Labor Relations Board, and other union matters. In 1951 he became Labor's acting and associate editor; in 1953 he became editor and manager, succeeding founder Edward Keating. Levin continued in this position until his death in 1981.
Throughout his career, Levin contributed articles to newspapers, wire services, magazines, and labor journals. He was a founding member and from 1949 until its dissolution in 1952 the chairman of the Labor Press Association, a news cooperative of labor editors. Levin received numerous journalism awards including the Sidney Hillman Foundation Award in 1956, and the Eugene V. Debs Award in 1975.
