| Nationality | Canadian |
|---|---|
| Profession | Author, public speaker, management consultant |
| Company | RNM Enterprises (President) |
| Spouse | Phil Markel |
| Known for | Professional development writing; grandparents’ rights advocacy; The Unveiling (2022) |
| Relationship to Dan Markel | Mother |
Ruth Markel is a Canadian author, public speaker, and management consultant with a career spanning more than four decades. She is the president of RNM Enterprises and has worked across private- and public-sector organizations throughout her professional life. She lives in Toronto with her husband, Phil Markel.
Ruth became more widely known to the public following the 2014 murder of her son, Dan Markel, a Florida law professor. In the years since, she has written a memoir about her family’s experience, advocated for grandparents’ rights in Florida, and spoken publicly throughout the lengthy criminal proceedings connected to his death.
Her Career in Professional Development and Writing
Long before she became associated with Dan Markel’s case, Ruth had built an independent career focused on professional development, leadership, and negotiation. She has held senior management roles in both private and public organizations and has lectured at institutions including the University of Toronto, London Business School, and Toronto Metropolitan University.
Her writing in this area produced two published books: Room At The Top: A Woman’s Guide To Moving Up In Business, published in 1985, and Moving Up: A Woman’s Guide To A Better Future At Work, published in 1988. Both books focused on women’s career advancement, leadership, and navigating professional environments. The books reached readers beyond English-speaking markets, with French- and German-language editions also published.
Over the years, Ruth made television and radio appearances as an author, speaker, and commentator. Her consulting and speaking work through RNM Enterprises has addressed topics including negotiation, career strategy, and professional growth for women in the workforce.
The Unveiling: Writing Through Grief and Criminal Proceedings
In 2022, Ruth published The Unveiling: A Mother’s Reflection on Murder, Grief, and Trial Life. The book is a memoir written from her perspective as a mother who lost her son to violence and then lived through the prolonged and complicated process of criminal investigations, arrests, and trials that followed.
The memoir covers both the personal dimensions of her grief and the family’s experience of watching the legal proceedings unfold over several years. It documents what it is like for a victim’s family to navigate the criminal justice system as observers — attending hearings, following evidence, and waiting for outcomes over an extended period.
The Unveiling stands as its own contribution to the literature written by families of murder victims. Ruth draws on her background as an author and communicator to give the book structure, while the subject matter is drawn directly from lived experience. CBC News reported on the book’s release and its connection to Ruth’s broader advocacy work.
Advocacy for Grandparents’ Rights and the Markel Act
One of the most significant consequences of Dan Markel’s murder, for Ruth and Phil Markel personally, was the loss of regular contact with their grandsons. This loss of access to Lincoln Markel and his brother Benjamin became a central concern for the family and motivated Ruth to speak out publicly on the issue of grandparent visitation rights.
Ruth and Phil directed their efforts toward Florida, where Dan had lived and where his sons remained. Their advocacy became closely associated with Florida legislation widely referred to as the Markel Act — a law intended to address grandparent visitation rights in specific circumstances. Ruth has been publicly recognized for her work as a victim advocate in connection with this legislation.
Her advocacy in this area is distinct from the criminal proceedings, though the two are connected by the same loss. Ruth has spoken about the experience of being a grandparent separated from grandchildren and has used her public platform to push for legal changes that might help families in similar situations. Coverage in The Canadian Jewish News documented the family’s efforts to maintain a relationship with Dan’s sons following the retrials and guilty verdicts in the case.
Readers following victim advocacy and family law developments can find analysis of cases like these through resources like First Business Mag.
The Markel Family
Ruth has been married to Phil Markel for many years, and the couple is based in Toronto. Together they are the parents of Dan Markel, the Florida State University law professor who was shot and killed in Tallahassee in July 2014. Dan’s murder set off one of the most extensively covered criminal cases in Florida in recent memory, involving multiple defendants, trials, and retrials.
Ruth and Phil are grandparents to Dan’s two sons, Lincoln and Benjamin Markel. Their efforts to maintain a relationship with the boys after Dan’s death became a defining part of Ruth’s public life in the years following the murder.
Ruth Markel’s story is one of a professional who built a recognized career in management consulting and writing, then found herself in circumstances that demanded a different kind of public voice entirely. Her 2022 memoir and her advocacy work around grandparents’ rights represent that second chapter — shaped by grief, but pursued with the same focus she brought to her earlier career.
