Character actor Joseph Ruskin died 28 December 2013 of natural causes. Born 14 April 1924 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, he was a board member in both Actors Equity and the Screen Actors Guild. After graduating from high school in Cleveland, Ohio, he served in the Navy during World War II, and then studied drama at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon University) and began his acting career at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and the Rochester Arena Stage. He made more than 120 television appearances, and appeared in 25 films.

Ruskin appeared in five Star Trek series, and is one of only four actors to appear in both the original series and Star Trek: Enterprise. He was Galt in the original series episode “The Gamesters of Triskelion” (1968); had a role in Star Trek:Insurrection (1998); made three appearances on Deep Space Nine (including the recurring character Tumek); played a Vulcan master on the Voyager episode “Gravity (1999); and played a Suliban doctor in the premiere episode of Enterprise. He also made memorable appearances on The Twilight Zone, including playing the uncredited voice of the Kanamits in the episode “To Serve Man,” and the Genie in the 1960 episode of “The Man in the Bottle”.

His other genre appearances include: Diamond Zero (2005), three episodes of Alias (2002), The Scorpion King (2002), Wishcraft (2002), King Cobra (1999), three episodes of Spider-Man (1995), Cyber Tracker (1994), Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988), Max Headroom (1987), Airwolf (1985), Knight Rider (1984), The Man Who Wasn’t There (1983), The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), Captain America (1979), Project U.F.O. (1978), Wonder Woman (1978), The Bionic Woman (1977), two episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man (1974 and 1975), Planet of the Apes (1974), Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (1971), two episodes of The Wild Wild West (1965 and 1967), The Time Tunnel (1966), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964), The Outer Limits (1964), and Diary of a Madman (1963).

Ruskin is survived by his wife, Barbara Greene Ruskin; daughter, Alicia Ruskin, and son-in-law, Larry Bucklan; step-daughters Rachel Greene, Martha Greene and Liza Page.