LEVINE–Dr. Richard U. Dr. Richard U. Levine, a member of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at NewYork-Presbyterian/ Columbia University Irving Medical Center for more than 50 years and who advanced women’s health in New York City and throughout the country, died April 12 in a bicycling accident. He was 78. Dr. Levine was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1941 to Vivian and Herman Levine, an immigrant from Minsk, Russia, who owned a drugstore in New York City’s Knickerbocker Hotel in the 1930s. They later moved to New Jersey where Richard attended Teaneck High School. He received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University in 1962 and his M.D., on a full scholarship, from Cornell University Medical College in 1966. He was an intern in medicine at Bellevue Hospital, New York. After his medical residency at Columbia University, Levine served in the Army as a physician stationed in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey and later in San Antonio, Texas. When he left the service, he had achieved the rank of major. Except for fellowships at the Karolinska Institute, in Sweden, and the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, his professional career, since 1974, was spent at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. “Growing up, whenever we were with mom and dad in public, invariably, we would be approached by parents who introduced us to their children or grandchildren who dad had delivered as babies,” son Daniel Levine said. “They always told us how much they appreciated Dad’s time, care and amazing attentiveness.” Dr. Levine was happiest helping patients and spending time with his family at his farm in Millbrook, New York, where he cultivated fruit and vegetables – and even bred Koi fish. He took pleasure in sharing his bounty with friends and family, delivering bumper crops of tomatoes, zucchini, corn and more. Son Peter Levine remembered: “Dad’s ideal day started at the farm with planting corn in his garden, digging a pond at noon, catching a quick snooze and then enjoying a dinner of his own produce and homemade ice cream with our mom, Ellen.” Dr. Levine filled numerous hospital, academic and professional positions, including president of Columbia Presbyterian’s Society of Practitioners, fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He was a member of the New York Obstetrical Society since 1978 and was elected its president in 2002. Among Dr. Levine’s contributions to the department of obstetrics and gynecology were the creation of chair positions in both his and his wife Ellen’s name. Ellen Levine was the long-serving editor-in-chief of Good Housekeeping and later editorial director of Hearst Magazines. Together, the couple worked on the charitable board of the New York Restoration Project, Bette Midler’s effort to revitalize parks in all boroughs of New York City. Additionally, Dr. Levine was an active alumni of Tufts University, and in 2018, participated in dedicating the newly renovated Levine Research and Learning Center in the Tisch Library. In the last weeks of his life during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Levine organized donations of personal protective equipment for frontline hospital workers. He is survived by wife Ellen; sons Daniel (Kathleen Kaiser Levine) and Peter (Naria Halliwell) and grandchildren Lucas, Jacob, Talia, Sofie and Sasha, and loving extended family members.
