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BK Keramati
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Better Government
Lower Cost
Lower Taxes |
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Bahram "BK" Keramati was born on July 1, 1948 in Tehran, Iran while
his father was attending medical school. At the age of 2, his family, which
included two older brothers moved to Paris, France where his father completed
his medical specialty as a radiologist. Returning to Iran at the age of 5,
BK began schooling in Isfahan, one of the most historic and beautiful cities
in the country. His family also grew to one more brother and two sisters.
He had the good fortune to follow the footsteps of his oldest brother and
travel to the US for his college education. He attended Lafayette College
in Easton, PA, and completed his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1970.
He was married soon after graduation and subsequently attended Penn State
University. He completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1976, and
moved to Schenectady, NY with his wife and very young daughter, Laura. He
began his career at (now) GE Global Research as a staff Mechanical Engineer.
Soon after the family settled in Glenville, Matthew was born at St. Clare's
Hospital in Schenectady. BK became a naturalized US Citizen in 1977. Laura
and Matthew attended Scotia-Glenville Schools. Laura attended Cornell University
and graduated with a BS in Biology. She later obtained a Master of Arts in
Teaching at SUNY Cortland. Matthew attended SUNY Plattsburgh and graduated
with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy. BK and his wife divorced
in 2001 after a 30-year marriage.
BK assumed a number of positions at GE, including research and development in the fields of heat and mass transport, energy, propulsion, manufacturing, industrial automation, and diesel engine technology. His projects involved interactions with many diverse GE businesses, including power generation, appliances, aircraft engines, lighting, locomotives, and medical equipment. His duties included managing multi-disciplinary, global teams, multi-million dollar projects, and international business collaborations. BK participated in the GE mentoring program at Schenectady High School. He served on the Planning Board in the Town of Princetown for about two years (1997-1999). He later served on the Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity of Schenectady County, and assumed the role of Building Committee Chair during the period that the organization grew to building 4 houses in one year (2003). After his retirement from GE in 2004, BK came to the conclusion that our government, both at the state and national levels, was not serving the needs of the public as well as it should. He started working as an activist with Citizen Action of New York and other organizations, such as Americans for Campaign Reform, to improve the current system. He has been an active participant in promoting Clean Money, Clean Elections, a reform that allows the use of full public funding for all political campaigns, eliminating the impact of special interest in this aspect of our democracy. BK lives with his wife, Ruth Andrea Levinson, on a farm in Galway, NY. Ruth Andrea retired as a Professor in the Education Studies Department of Skidmore College in 2007 after 18 years of teaching at the college. Ruth Andrea was the co-founder and Director of Expanding Horizons: The Skidmore/Schuylerville Connection. This K-6 partnership is a multi-faceted collaboration between a liberal arts college and a rural school system. Ruth Andrea and BK enjoy their farmland and are fortunate to be near their family who live in New York and surrounding states. They work together on their land, work on flower and vegetable gardens, maintain trails, cook, hike, ski, and enjoy the open space their land affords. Ruth Andrea enjoys practicing dressage, participates in book clubs and volunteers with her temple. BK's hobbies include violin, photography, and home projects using his basic basement shop. BK's daughter, Laura, lives in Cortland, NY on a family-owned dairy farm with her husband, Paul Fouts and two children, Julia and Derrick. His son Matthew lives in the town of Ballston and works as an investigator with Saratoga County Child Protective Services. His step-daughter, Stephanie, works as a Social Worker at Glens Falls Hospital, and his step-son, Reuben is a student at Ithaca College majoring in French with a minor in International Business. BK has lived in the 44th Senate District for 32 years, starting in Schenectady, then Glenville, Princetown, and back to Schenectady. After his retirement, he moved to Saratoga Springs, and now resides in Galway.
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