Page created by: Susan Chao

It is with great sadness that the family of Richard Carl Levine shares news of his passing on June 8, 2022, just 8 days before his 83rd birthday. Although Parkinson’s shaped the end, it never extinguished the fierce intellect and independent spirit that defined his life.

Known to most as Richard, some as Dr. or Professor Levine, and to a few, Abba or Grandpa, he was a devoted family man who possessed a love of learning and diverse abilities.

Richard grew up in Detroit as the only child of Earl and Mary Simon Levine. His father died when Richard was only 4 and he was raised by his school teacher mother and grandmothers. Even in those early years, Richard already showed signs of technical aptitude. Once, Mary found little Richard with screwdriver in hand having proudly removed the electrical plate covers at his family’s home.

Richard was known as “The Brain” by his young peers and he entered MIT at the tender age of 16. He proceeded through his Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctor of Science degrees at MIT in quick succession and concluded his time at MIT with a Ford Postdoctoral Fellowship. At the time, he was told he was MIT's youngest doctoral graduate in Electrical Engineering.

Dr. Levine was the inventor of multiple patents, co-author of multiple books, and key contributor to areas that may seem commonplace today. He helped to develop the images of checks that appear on bank statements, worked on a blue ribbon committee for the government that settled on fiber as the gold standard for data transmission, developed systems for identifying submarines while submerged, and chaired one of the the first cell phone standards committees on cell phone encryption that chose GSM over CDMA for American cell phone standards.

Having first taught classes at MIT, Professor Levine was a long-time Adjunct Professor who taught graduate level classes in the Electrical Engineering Department at SMU. Long before distance-learning became commonplace, his courses were recorded and transmitted via TV to other parts of the US and the world.

Beyond these accomplishments, Richard was known to his grown peers as a Renaissance man. His love of music started at an early age and he sang over the radio in Detroit with his youth choir. Over the years he learned to play the guitar, banjo, and piano.

He was a polyglot. Beside proficiency in Russian and Yiddish, he studied French, Spanish, Hebrew, and German. He was also a ham radio operator and had a passion for Citroen cars.

Richard is survived by Sara, his loving wife of 58 years, his daughter Naomi Cohen of Dallas, sons Earl Levine (and daughter-in-law Susan Chao) of Palo Alto, CA and David Levine (and daughter-in-law Evette Khaew) of Los Altos Hills, CA. Grandchildren are Kyle, Michael, Alexandra "Ali", Gabrael "Rael", Annika, and Oliver.

The family requests that any donations be made to the Michael J Fox Foundation or charity of your choice.