Richard M. Levine
Richard M. Levine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Richard Michael Levine June 19, 1942 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | May 22, 2026 (aged 83) Castro Valley, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Wesleyan University, BA, 1963 Columbia University, MA, 1966 |
| Occupations | Journalist, poet, non-fiction book writer, short story writer, academic |
| Spouses | Lucille Lang Day |
| Website | richardmichaellevine |
Richard M. Levine (June 19, 1942 – May 22, 2026) was an American journalist and author.[1] He was best known for Bad Blood: A Family Murder in Marin County, his 1982 book about the murders of Jim and Naomi Olive.[2][3]
Bad Blood received positive reviews. Greil Marcus, writing in Rolling Stone, argued that "from the beginning of this tale through to its aftermath, the people caught up in its momentum are thrown back on themselves. That is what makes the story Bad Blood has to tell so terrible, and so compelling"[4] Kirkus Reviews wrote that it was a "chilling, fascinating reconstruction" and "a first-class study of a set of American dreams gone wrong."[2] The New York Times, while slightly less enthusiastic, praised "the richness of its detail and the remarkable intimacy with which we get to know its characters."[5]
Early life and education
Born June 19, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, Levine was the eldest of three children of businessman Bernard Levine and homemaker Gertrude Cohen Levine.
The family moved to Great Neck on Long Island when he was a child, and he graduated from Great Neck North High School in 1959.[6]
He attended Wesleyan University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature in 1963. He continued his education at the Russian Institute of Columbia University, where he received a Master of Arts degree in Slavic languages and literature in 1966.[7] While at Columbia, he received a Fulbright scholarship, which enabled him to study at the University of Warsaw and the University of Krakow (now Jagiellonian University) in Poland.[6]
Career
Levine contributed to Rolling Stone, New York, Painted Bride Quarterly, Esquire, Mother Jones, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Magazine, and The New York Times.[6][8][9][10][11][12]
His 1969 essay, "Jesse Jackson: Heir to Dr. King?," published in Harper's Magazine, has been reprinted numerous times.[6]
In addition to being a freelance journalist, he served as a contributing editor and columnist at Esquire, as well as a staff writer and editor at Newsweek and the Saturday Review.[7]
Levine also taught at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1977, he was awarded an Alicia Patterson Foundation fellowship.[13] His mentors have included American journalist and historian David Halberstam and American writer and editor Willie Morris.[6]
In 2015, Levine published a book of poetry and a book of short stories.[14][15] He was a 2016 finalist for the Lascaux Prize in Poetry[16] and the Eric Hoffer Book Award in Fiction.
Personal life
Levine was married to educator and writer Lucille Lang Day and lived with her in Oakland, California.[17] He died following a long struggle with frontotemporal dementia.[18]
Books
- Bad Blood: A Family Murder in Marin County (Random House, 1982). ISBN 0394508874
- Catch and Other Poems (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2015). ISBN 978-0976867647
- The Man Who Gave Away His Organs: Tales of Love and Obsession at Midlife (Capra Press, 2015). ISBN 978-1592661046
References
- ↑ "Richard Michael Levine – Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry". Richard Michael Levine.
- 1 2 "Bad Blood: A Family Murder in Marin County by Richard Levine". Kirkus Reviews.
- ↑ "A Local Murder". Marin. October 21, 2008.
- ↑ Marcus, Greil (October 21, 2014). "Richard M. Levine, 'Bad Blood' (11/82)". Rolling Stone – via greilmarcus.net.
- ↑ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (November 11, 1982). "Books of the Times". The New York Times.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Richard Michael Levine Presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award". Marquis Who's Who. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
- 1 2 "Richard Michael Levine". Poets & Writers. January 31, 2020. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
- ↑ Levine, Richard M. (November 16, 1986). "Murder, They Wrote". The New York Times.
- ↑ Levine, Richard M. (January 1981). "Life After Flashdance". Esquire.
- ↑ "Who Is Hare Krishna..." New York. September 6, 1971.
- ↑ "The Line". Mother Jones. June 12, 1994.
- ↑ "Richard Michael Levine". Painted Bride Quarterly. November 17, 2015.
- ↑ "Richard Levine". The Alicia Patterson Foundation.
- ↑ "Meet Author & Writer Richard Michael Levine". Book Pleasures.
- ↑ "Richard Michael Levine and Marilyn Stablein". Poetry Flash.
- ↑ "Contest Results". The Lascaux Review.
- ↑ "Lucille Lang Day". Lucille Lang Day. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
- ↑ "Richard Michel Levine, 1942 - 2026". Legacy. Retrieved June 26, 2026.
- 1942 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American educators
- 20th-century American Jews
- 20th-century American journalists
- 20th-century American poets
- 20th-century American short story writers
- 21st-century American educators
- 21st-century American Jews
- 21st-century American journalists
- 21st-century American poets
- 21st-century American short story writers
- Academics from Brooklyn
- Academics from Oakland, California
- American columnists
- American expatriates in Poland
- American magazine editors
- 20th-century American male journalists
- 20th-century American male poets
- American male short story writers
- Columbia University alumni
- Esquire (magazine) people
- Jagiellonian University alumni
- Jewish American academics
- Jewish American journalists
- Jewish American poets
- John L. Miller Great Neck North High School alumni
- Journalists from Brooklyn
- Journalists from Oakland, California
- Newsweek people
- Poets from California
- Poets from New York City
- University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism faculty
- University of Warsaw alumni
- Wesleyan University alumni
- 21st-century American male journalists
- 21st-century American male poets