Harold James Levy, MD ’46 and Arlyne Levy

Harold James Levy, MD ’46 and Arlyne Levy

The Levy family has a strong legacy at UB. Three generations of the family received medical degrees: Harold’s father, Sidney H. Levy, M.D. ’15 was a pioneer radiologist in Buffalo, then Harold’s medical degree in the centennial class of 1946 and then, in 1986, Sanford, son of Harold and Arlyne, graduated as an M.D. with “high honors”.

Harold has the distinction of being the youngest M.D. graduate in the history of the medical school founded in 1846, having graduated at just 21 years of age. He is also the youngest inductee to the local Chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha (Honor Medical Society). During World War II, he volunteered in the Army at 17 and received a commission at 21 as Lieutenant, Medical Corp. He was discharged, and then recalled to active duty in 1948, posted to Korea as Chief of Psychiatry for a year. After that, he served as surgeon to The Fifth Infantry Regiment and was discharged from active duty with the rank of Captain in 1950. He returned to UB and completed a research fellowship in psychosomatic medicine, which was a new medical specialty. He served after that on the volunteer faculty of the medical school, teaching for over 60 years and retired as Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus. Among many positions, both locally and nationally, he was Chief of Psychiatry at the Millard Fillmore Hospitals for over 30 years and a consultant at several area hospitals while operating his own private practice. The UB Medical Alumni Association awarded him the “Lifetime Achievement Award” in 2011.

Arlyne grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and earned a B.A. and M.A. at Western Reserve University, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society in her junior year. She taught junior high school mathmatics. She married and worked a short time as a statistician at the UB Chronic Disease Research Institute until the first of three sons were born. She became a stay at home mother. She did extensive volunteer work in the Buffalo community. Arlyne was especially active in Hadassah, serving as president of local groups before being elected president of the city-wide Hadassah, which at the time had 1,200 members. She recalls doing so much work by telephone that they had to install a second phone line in their home because Harold had to be accessible for medical calls. Arlyne also served as the national president of the Women’s Auxilary of the Medical Students Aid Society for many years. Harold was elected national president and later, chairman at the board of their philanthropic group.

Harold and Arlyne’s son, Sanford H. Levy received his M.D. from UB in 1986, is board-certified in both internal medicine and integrative/holistic medicine. Both Harold and Sanford have served as president of the UB Medical Alumni Association.

Harold has been very active in the University and the UB Medical School. In addition to serving as president of the UB Medical Alumni Association, he served as an officer on UB’s general alumni board. He was class chairman and organized parties every five years and has a record of collective class donations of just under $3 million. He also played an active role in developing the UB Department of Jewish Thought.

One of Harold and Arylne’s brightest moments was when they attended their son, Sandy’s, M.D. graduation from UB and he was awarded “high honors” – no easy feat in medical school. Harold says they were “surprised and so proud” in that moment that it “brought tears to his eyes.”

The Levys have endowed several funds in the Department of Jewish Thought to support and reward students who can spread the light of their knowledge, understanding and respect for Judaism. They also endowed a fund in the medical school providing an annual award for a resident in training in the Department of Psychiatry for a research paper on some aspect of psychosomatic medicine. They endowed the “Dean’s Conference Room” in the new medical school downtown.They are members of several UB philanthropic groups, including the University Founders Society and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ Circle of Visionaries. Harold has donated every year to the medical school since he graduated, with the exception of the two years he served overseas in the Army – that totals over 73 years. Harold also volunteered and taught for over 60 years at UB.

The notion of giving back through volunteerism and philanthropy is part of Harold and Arlyne’s philosophy of life. Their time donated to community service and support of their Temple illustrates their belief that one’s good fortune warrants “giving back”. Harold noted, “we are proud to be able to help broaden society’s view of what the Jewish tradition is about.”