Sanford Levenson photos through the years from Beacon Journal filesSanford Levenson, born on July 30, 1941 in Cleveland, Ohio, passed away on July 2, 2008 in Akron, Ohio.
Sanford is survived by his wife, Sandra Levenson (nee Waxman); three children, Bill Levenson of Washington, D.C., Rabbi Joel Levenson (Leora Cohen) of Woodbrige, Conn., Annie Hoffnung (Ari) of Bronx, N
.Y.; and granddaughter, Shir Levenson. He is also survived by sister, Arlene Lombardy of Solon, Ohio; brothers, Alan Levenson (Marilyn) of Columbus, Ohio and Jerome (Nena) Levenson of Austin, Texas. Sanford received his BA in Journalism from Ohio University. Early in his career he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his group's reporting of the Kent State riots in 1970. Sanford worked for over 35 years at the Akron Beacon Journal where he began as a reporter in 1966 and later served in a variety of roles including Magazine Editor and features writer. He retired as Copy Desk Editor. He then worked as News Editor of the Medina Gazette. Sanford also volunteered for many years as the bulletin editor of Beth El Congregation where he and his family are long time members. The funeral service took place on Thursday, July 3, 2008 at the Gordon-Flury Memorial Home. The service was conducted by Rabbi Stephen Grundfast, Cantor Stephen Stein, and Cantor James Gloth. Burial took place at the Rose Hill Cemetery. Family will observe memorial week at their residence. Contributions in memory of Sanford Levenson may be made to Beth El Synagogue, 464 South Hawkins Avenue, Akron, OH 44320. [Beacon Journal, Akron, OH,Friday, July 4, 2008.page B4, col. 4 ]
Sandy was a gentleman and a gentle man, not to mention a talented copy editor and one of the best headline writers I've ever worked with. I have many fond memories of him, but one comes immediately to mind: I once wrote a column on a subject to which I had a rather strong emotional attachment, and when Sandy slotted that column, he noticed something didn't quite add up. So quietly, without a lot of fuss, he went back to the original version, discovered that a young copy editor had edited in some errors that had altered the meaning, and changed the copy back to the way it had been written. I was and still am so grateful for his careful eye. He was a gem!
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