Rudolph Ely “Rudy” Boschwitz (born November 7, 1930)[1] is an American politician and businessman from the state of Minnesota.

When he was two years old, he and his family fled the country due to Adolf Hitler's rise to power.

Boschwitz became well-known for starring in Plywood Minnesota's television commercials, wearing his signature plaid flannel shirts.

Boschwitz is the oldest living person who served as an elected member of the U.S. Senate since the death of Daniel J. Evans.

[4] In 1933, when he was two years old, his Jewish family fled Nazi Germany for the United States, settling in New Rochelle, New York, where he grew up.

[6] Boschwitz was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in November 1978 and appointed on December 30, 1978, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Wendell R. Anderson, who was appointed to fill the seat after Walter Mondale was elected Vice President of the United States in 1976.

[7] Boschwitz voted in favor of the Passage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President of the United States Ronald Reagan's veto).

[16] Boschwitz married his wife, the former Ellen Antoinette Loewenstein, in 1956, and they had four sons, Gerry (died December 30, 2018), Kenneth, Daniel, and Thomas.