Gerald I. Levitch

[ Originally published on: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 ]

GREENFIELD -- Gerald ''Jerry'' I. Levitch of Greenfield died Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009, peacefully at home at the age of 91.

He was born in New York City in 1918 and moved with his family to Greenfield in 1920. He and his brother Robert grew up in Greenfield and graduated from Greenfield High School. After a year at Vermont Academy, he attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, until enlisting in the Army in 1941.

During WW II, he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps as an ambulance driver and in the U.S. Air Corps where he was a combat photographer. He ended his military career as commander of Company L, the National Guard in Greenfield, attaining the rank of captain.

He married the former Carol Millard of West Stockbridge and then upon discharge in 1945 returned to New York City, where he worked in his father Al's music publishing business, Harry Tenny Music Publishers, located in the Brill Building on Broadway.

He enjoyed 65 years of marriage to his beloved wife, Carol. Their favorite activities included traveling, particularly to Bermuda and Cape Cod, musical entertainment and spending time with his family.

He and Carol returned to Greenfield after several years, where he worked for American Photographic Co. of Shelburne Falls. Soon after, he became the assistant treasurer of the First National Bank & Trust Company of Greenfield, then the town accountant for Greenfield and in 1955, the office manager for Franklin County Public Hospital. In 1956. he became a partner with Simon Cohn, his lifelong friend, in Cohn & Levitch Real Estate and Insurance Co. He was executive director of the Greenfield Housing Authority from 1952 to 1968.

He had a huge passion and love of community and its individuals. His chosen venues were politics and town positions. He served on the School Committee for nine years, the Finance and Personnel Committee, the Planning Board, and from 1966-1978 as selectman, where he was chairman for many years. He was the property manager of Greenfield Acres (the High Rise) from 1978-2008.

He also served on many volunteer boards including the Visiting Nurses Association, the Kiwanis Club, the YMCA, Franklin County Public Hospital, as a corporator of the Franklin Savings Institution, member and past president of the Franklin County Board of Realtors, and as one of the original members of the Greenfield Community College Foundation.

He was a lifelong lover of music, playing the piano and enjoyed sports where he continued playing tennis well into his 80's and was a devoted reader of history and politics. He greatly enjoyed volunteering at the Greenfield Visitors Center, which he continued to do up to the week of his passing.

He was predeceased by his wife Carol and brother Robert and is survived by his daughter, Wendy of Greenfield; his son, Kim Levitch and his wife Nancy Fournier of Shelburne; his grandson, Daniel Levitch; his niece, Annie Marks of Murfreesboro, Tenn., and her children, Robert Marks of Santa Claus, Ind., and Sharon Godby of Smyrna, Tenn., and her grandchildren, Corbin Talley and Anelia Rizzo, of Smyrna, and longtime friends, Catherine and Jean Tallen of Heath.

The Levitch family will receive guests on Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, from the McCarthy Funeral Homes, 36 Bank Row, Greenfield, from 4 to 7 p.m., as a time of remembrance of Jerry. All are invited to join them in this celebration of his life and many gifts.

At Jerry's request, services will be private and at the convenience of his family, with inurnment to take place in Green River Cemetery with military honors to be observed.

The Levitch family requests that expressions of affection in the form of charitable contributions be directed to Hospice of Franklin County, 329 Conway St., Suite 2, Greenfield, MA 01301 in lieu of flowers.

The McCarthy Funeral Homes of Greenfield and Turners Falls have been entrusted with the arrangements. For further information, to sign a guest book or to forward a condolence message to the Levitch family, please visit www.mccarthyfuneralhomes.com.

 

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