— 6 — In memoriam: Alfred Levinson Alfred “Al” Levinson, professor emeritus of chemistry, died of congestive heart failure on Dec. 10, 2008, after a long series of illnesses. Prof. Levinson was a valued and productive colleague for 31 years until his retirement in 1994. During his professional life Prof. Levinson authored or co-authored at least a dozen refereed articles, mostly in the area of terpenoids and other natural products. He was a preeminent teacher who received the Millar Award for teaching excellence in the 1980s. Reflective of the broadness of his interests, he was a great believer in interdisciplinary science and was a key participant in two major projects which helped gain recognition of PSU as an incubator of new approaches to education. The first of these projects, which came to be known as the Core Course, was to develop a college course at the introductory sciencemajor level combining material from chemistry, physics, and biology. The second project, the Portland Project, brought together science educators, high school teachers, and science faculty during summers over a number of years to put together a high school program incorporating elements from the major sciences. Supported by the NSF, it was in use at one time in at least 90 high schools. It was in this context of the team-taught Core Course that some of his colleagues were privileged to see him as a teacher, attending his clear, illuminating, and often hilariously funny lectures. His office was open to his students, his patience with their learning problems unending. He had a knack for remembering his students’ names, even years later. With respect to the Portland Project, Prof. Levinson exemplified an attitude of openness and tolerance that was required to bring a coherent and effective result from a diverse mix of talents and disciplines. He was always critical in a kindly way and forever ready with a witticism when needed. Born in Portland in 1932, Prof. Levinson graduated from Lincoln High (1950) and Reed College on a scholarship (B.A., 1954). He intended to major in biology but, he later asserted, the smell of formaldehyde drove him into chemistry. For a while he worked for a firm in Berkeley, Calif., on a project to develop a glue formula. “It didn’t stick,” Al would remark about his departure. He joined the graduate program at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, during which time he began to correspond with Amy Perlstein, a graduate student in Rochester, N.Y., whom he had known vaguely at Reed. By the time he received an M.A. in 1958 they were engaged. While on the way from Connecticut to begin his Ph.D. studies at Indiana University, he stopped in Rochester and decided that as Amy’s family was also visiting at the time, this called for a wedding. He finished his doctoral work in 1963. With remarkable inner strength Prof. Levinson maintained his impish wit and broadly ranging curiosity despite personal tragedies and debilitating illnesses. As a boy he contracted rheumatic fever, beginning a lifelong battle with heart disease. He was a survivor of three heart valve operations and required a pacemaker. In 1980 he suffered a massive stroke. When Mount St. Helens blew, “so did I,” he would quip. Al re-learned how to use a blackboard with his left hand and continued to teach. The same year his beloved brother Robert, a University of Oregon Ph.D., died in an automobile accident. In 1983 his eldest daughter Becky, a student at PSU, also died in an automobile-related accident. In 2001 his dear wife, Amy, died unexpectedly. In his retirement Al continued to read and tell stories, many involving his colorful extended family and his Lithuanian Jewish heritage. He is survived by his daughter, Ellen, of Colorado and his son, Mark, of Pennsylvania. —Arnold Pickar, Professor Emeritus of Physics, and Nathan Cogan, Professor Emeritus of English Mark your calendar Cris Paschild, PSUArchivist Thursday, March 19, 1 p.m. 236 Smith Memorial Student Union This is RAPS’s annual potluck—see story on page 8 President’s Luncheon Thursday, April 16 University Place Ice CreamSocial Wednesday, May 20 Alpenrose Dairy
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