Intelligent and Classy

 

    There is an unfair stereotype of extremely intelligent people. Many times they are portrayed as socially inept, and singularly focused on their research. They are referred to as nerds or geeks with boring lifestyles and almost childlike interests. Television and movies cashed in on this representation and created characters that their audiences made light of. My uncle Herman Levine meets the description of an extremely intelligent scientist. He was,however, the antithesis of the nerdy geeky wallflower. He was no Sheldon Cooper.

     Herman Saul Levine was born on February 11th, 1922 in Jeannette,PA just moments before his twin brother, Henry Samuel Levine (affectionately known as uncle Sam.) Even though Herman was born first Sam always claimed that he was older because he crossed the international dateline from west to east and therefore lived the same day twice. The twins were the fourth and fifth children of my grandparents Louis and Tillie Levine. Their older brothers each took one of the boys under their wings to mentor and protect them. Bernie, the oldest took Herman, and Moe (my father) took Sam. Their influences lasted a long time. When Herman was in college and short of funds he asked Bernie to help him out financially. Sam asked Moe to be his Best Man at his wedding. 

 

     Herman, like all of his brothers and sisters graduated from Academy High School in Erie, PA and then went on to the University of Pittsburgh which is also the Alma Mater of five other Levine family members including myself. He earned a Bachelor of science in Chemistry and then went on to the University of Illinois and earned his Phd in chemistry.

 

 

 

 

 He met Shirley Benjamin while attending school in Illinois and they got married in 1948. Their first child, Marcie was born in Illinois in 1949 and then they moved to New York state where their son David was born in 1950. They then lived in Cincinnati where Missy was born in 1957 and shortly after that they settled in Albuquerque NM. Herman worked for Sandia Corporation and had quite a high security clearance due to the nature of his research in nuclear energy. Aaron, their son was born in New Mexico. Herman and Shirley had the oldest and youngest grandchildren on the Levine side of the family.      

 

     Herman was highly regarded in his field. Of course it did no good to try to understand what he was researching. Some of the papers that he wrote are titled “Determination of phosphorus in borophosphosilicate or phosphosilicate glass films on a silicon wafer by wavelength‐dispersive x‐ray spectrometry” and “Kinetic studies at temperatures near 4000 degrees K using the falling specimen technique: The reaction Zr(l) + O2 (g) -ZrO2(l)” Just some light reading for the average science buff. He did consult on the Three Mile Island Nuclear plant meltdown in Pennsylvania and his recommendations were considered in the plan to prevent such occurrences in the other nuclear power plant in America. During WWII Herman was on the team that developed Neoprene which was a substitute for rubber.

     As involved as he was in his career he never forgot his roots. Being far away from his home town he would piggyback visits to Erie on top of his speaking engagements in the east. He wrote letters and called frequently. He was always involved in his kids’ lives. His daughters claim he was an excellent teacher and when they came to him with a problem he wouldn’t give them the answer but told them how to procure the information so they could solve it themselves. He was a soccer coach for his son Aaron as well as being a scout leader. He was a lover of dogs and enjoyed a good game of chess. Apparently he played that game at a very high level. I remember once that he told me he was dabbling in the stock market. He and a friend had developed an algorithm to track stocks they had targeted and he actually was quite successful. My cousin Aaron told me that Herman was always fixing things. When Aaron impishly placed a golf ball into the dishwasher, Herman had to methodically take it apart and remove the countless rubber bands that penetrated every nook and cranny of the machine. He did it himself. No service call for this man. 

     There were some sad times in Herman’s life. In 1968 his son David was killed in a construction accident. This incident shook our family and reminded us of how fragile our lives are. In 1986 Herman’s wife, Shirley succumbed to a long battle with cancer. Herman was by her side to the end. After her death he began to do volunteer work for Hospice. His daughter, Missy said he was a very compassionate man, always trying to help those less fortunate than himself. He continued his sympathetic kindness through the end of Leora’s (his second wife) life as she fell into the dark chasm of Alzheimer’s disease.      

     He had been living in Sacramento, CA when Lee died. He moved back to Albuquerque soon after and lived near Aaron, Aaron’s wife, Gail, and their daughter, Charlotte. His health was not very good. He had a tumor in his lung and he would have fared better in the east at a lower elevation but his quality of life would not have been nearly as good without his family close by. In 2011 we had a family reunion in Albuquerque that coincided with the International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. He was living in assisted living and Arlene and I along with my sister Cheryl went to visit him at his apartment. He was happy to see us but he made us promise to look after his sister Ruth. Always concerned about somebody else’s well being. Herman died less than a year later.     

 

     I have fond memories of my Uncle Herman. I used to play chess with him when he was in Erie but I never realized how much he toned down his game to make it seem competitive. When I graduated from High School he gave me a subscription to Scientific American. I guess he felt it was appropriate to stimulate an interest in science. One of my favorite memories was when I sat at a table with both him and my cousin (his nephew), Paul. They were both Phd’s in vastly different fields but their discussion about one of Paul’s research projects was mesmerizing. Herman was intelligent, classy, well rounded, compassionate, and a good soul and not a bit like the TV stereotype we have become accustomed to.