Jerry Rubin of ‘Chicago 7’ Hit by a Car : Activism: The Vietnam War protester turned businessman is reported in critical condition after being struck while jaywalking in Westwood.

Former Chicago Seven anti-war activist Jerry Rubin was reported in critical condition Tuesday at UCLA Medical Center after he was hit by a car while jaywalking in Westwood, Los Angeles police said.

Officers said the Yippie turned businessman was crossing Wilshire Boulevard at mid-block between Selby and Manning avenues about 8:30 p.m. Monday when he was struck by a car heading west on Wilshire.

Rubin, 56, who lives in a high-rise Brentwood apartment, was taken by ambulance to the medical center, where he underwent several hours of surgery.

The driver of the car--a 1991 Volkswagen GTI--was not held or cited, police said.

Rubin--along with the late Abbie Hoffman and Paul Krassner--founded the Youth International Party, or Yippies, during the late 1960s.

The group’s members were major players during anti-Vietnam War demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, 1968. Black Panther leader Bobby Seale and seven others--among them Rubin and Hoffman--were charged with conspiracy to incite violence and crossing state lines with the intent to riot.

The court proceedings began in September, 1969, becoming known as the Chicago Seven trial after federal Judge Julius Hoffman severed Seale’s case from the others and ordered him bound and gagged when he protested the crusty jurist’s rulings. Seale eventually was convicted of contempt of court and sentenced to four years in prison.

The trial of the seven other defendants--Rubin, Hoffman, Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, John Froines, Tom Hayden and Lee Weiner--became a dramatic spectacle during which the wild-haired defendants stomped on the judicial robes they elected to wear in the courtroom.

“I think it certainly was a microcosm of the times, but it also was theater, so it was an exaggerated statement of the times,” Froines said later.

After 4 1/2 months of testimony, all but Froines and Weiner were found guilty of the intent-to-riot charges. All were acquitted of the conspiracy charges.

Although Rubin, Hoffman, Davis, Dellinger and Hayden were sentenced to prison, their convictions--along with Seale’s--were overturned by the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which cited errors by Judge Hoffman and criticized his courtroom demeanor.

While some of the Chicago Seven remained true to their Yippie roots, Rubin evolved, discovering est, yoga, bioenergetics and a smorgasbord of self-awareness programs that eventually led him to venture banking on Wall Street and the creation of a “networking party” for Yuppies.

Rubin’s evolution did not sit well with Hoffman, who squared off with him in a series of “Yippie-versus-Yuppie” debates in the mid-1980s.

Hoffman was found dead in 1989, apparently a suicide. Rubin was the only member of the Chicago Seven to attend the funeral.

Rubin--who has the same name as a Venice activist--continued to prosper, becoming an independent marketer for a Dallas-based firm that sells a nutritional drink called Wow that contains kelp, ginseng and bee pollen. Bobby Seale became one of his salesmen. In an earlier interview, Rubin estimated that he made $600,000 in 1992.