City Council July 21st, 2021
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Richard Simon Levy has been called to eternal life by the wisdom of God to his eternal reward; and
WHEREAS^ The Chicago City Council has been informed of his passing by the Honorable Patrick D . Thompson, Alderman of the 11 th Ward; and
WHEREAS, Richard was preceded in death by his parents, and cousins Leonard and Robert Levy, and by two aunts and uncles, Marian and Henry Pollack and Elmer and Delia Levy. He is survived by his wife Linnea of the home, and by his brother David (and Lynne) in Norman, Oklahoma; by his brother-in-law and friend, Jon Randolph; by his fond nieces and nephews, Beth (and Joel) and Benjamin (and Martha) of California, and by cousins Betty (and William) Shapiro of Philadelphia and Carol Jo Brown of California; and
WHEREAS, Richard Simon Levy was born in Oak Park, Illinois, to Roy A. and Helen E. (Locffler) Levy. He graduated (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Chicago in 1962, and went on to earn a master s degree (1964) and a PhD (1969) in German history from Yale University. From 1967 to 1971, he taught at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In 1971, he moved to the University of Illinois, Chicago where, for nearly fifty years, he taught courses in German history, the history of arttisemitism, and the holocaust; and
WHEREAS, Richard was a widely recognized authority on the history of European antisemitism and wrote or edited numerous books and articles and delivered dozens of papers on the* topic all over the United States and abroad. He was the editor of Antisemitism: Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution (2005). He was also a prolific reviewer (including close to two hundred reviews for the librarians'journal, CHOICE) and an experienced translator of historical documents from the German. In 2001, he was Fulbright Senior Professor in Pisa Italy, and after 2011, adjunct professor of German Studies at Duke University ; and
WHEREAS, Richard loved good music, good food, good old movies, good friends. He loved working with his hands and playing pool and baking bread. Most of all, he loved Linnea, his wife of more than half a century. He had a wry and occasionally devastating sense of humor that kept friends and family laughing, and punctured pretension in others when he came across it. Unlike his father before him, he lived to see the Chicago Cubs win the World Series. And when the Cubs finally did win, he took the newspaper with the headline to, his father's grave. At the Scrabble board, he was without mercy; and
City Council July 21st, 2021
WHEREAS, His love of life and ability to live it to the fullest endeared Richard to his family members, friends and all who;knew,him, and enabled him to enrich their lives in ways they will never forget; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and members ofthe City Council ofthe City of Chicago gathered here this twenty first of July 2021, do hereby express our sorrow on the death of Richard Simon Levy and extend to his family and friends our deepest sympathy; and
Patrick D. Thompson Alderman, 11th Ward
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Richard Simon Levy.
