| Malcolm Ruff | |
| State Delegate: | Maryland |
| Term Start: | July 6, 2023 |
| Birth Date: | 18 April 1984 |
| Birth Place: | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Spouse: | Sydnee |
| Children: | 4 |
| Alma Mater: | Duke University (BA) University of Baltimore (JD) |
| Occupation: | Attorney |
Malcolm Peter Ruff[1] (born April 18, 1984) is an American politician and attorney who has served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from District 41 since 2023.
Ruff is a member of the Democratic Party as well as an associate with the law firm Murphy, Falcon & Murphy, which is managed by prominent civil rights attorney Billy Murphy Jr. He has been described as a protégé of Murphy.[2]
Ruff was born in Baltimore on April 18, 1984. He grew up in the Park Heights neighborhood of Baltimore, and spent his summers on a small family-owned farm in Harford County, Maryland.[3] Ruff graduated from the Gilman School in 2002, where he was considered a track and football standout.[4] He later attended Duke University, where he played for the Duke Blue Devils football team[5] and earned a bachelor's degree in African and African American studies in 2006. Ruff later attended the University of Baltimore School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree in 2012.[6] While at the University of Baltimore, he was one of only six students nationwide selected for the NAACP-Kellogg's Law Fellow program.[7]
Ruff has been a member of the Maryland Bar since 2012. He began his legal career as an assistant state's attorney for the state's attorneys for Baltimore and Baltimore County, where he was a prosecutor in personal injury and criminal defense cases.[8] From 2014 to 2018, he worked as a trial attorney for the Saller & Biship law firm. Afterwards, Ruff became a partner at the Murphy, Falcon & Murphy law firm.[9] In this position, he has represented several victims of police brutality and wrongful death matters, including in the cases of Jordan McNair,[10] William Green,[11] Quinton Burns,[12] Taizier Griffin,[13] [14] Renardo Green,[15] Zayne Abdullah,[16] and Demonte Ward-Blake.[17]
Outside of his legal career, Ruff is the founder of the Pagya Project, a non-profit to support residents of underserved communities and to address homelessness and street violence in Baltimore.[18]
In February 2023, Ruff participated in and spoke at a Tyre Nichols protest at Festival Park in Aberdeen, Maryland, where he read a list of names of African Americans killed in police encounters and suggested that police agencies "clean house".[19]
In May 2023, following the appointment of state delegate Tony Bridges as the Assistant Secretary for the Maryland Department of Transportation, Ruff applied to fill the vacancy left by his resignation in the Maryland House of Delegates. In June 2023, the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee voted to send Governor Wes Moore the names of both Ruff and former state delegate Angela Gibson for consideration to fill the vacancy. On June 18, 2023, Moore appointed Ruff to fill the vacancy.[20] He was sworn in on July 6, 2023.[21]
House speaker Adrienne Jones assigned Ruff to the Appropriations committee[22] and he is also a member of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland and the Baltimore City Delegation.
Ruff lives in Baltimore. He is married to his wife, Sydnee, and has four children. He is a member of the Heritage United Church of Christ.[23]