David Levy

David William Levy was born in Chicago on May 6, 1937 to Roy A. and Helen E. (Loeffler) Levy. He died peacefully at his home in Norman on August 9, 2025, in the presence of family, after a long battle with cancer.

Growing up in the neighborhoods of Cicero and Berwyn, David spent his early life in immigrant communities. He worked several odd jobs, including as a golf caddy, an ice cream truck driver, and as an usher in a local movie theater, where his love of classic cinema took shape. His father, a newspaperman, was also a lover of history. Through conversations around the dinner table and a memorable tour of Civil War battle sites, he instilled in David and his brother Richard a curiosity about the past that shaped both their careers. Both parents were devoted members of Temple B’nai Jehoshua and passed down to their sons a deep commitment to the social welfare of those in their community and the model of a life enriched by easy interaction with dear friends.

A quick and curious student, David graduated (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1959 before earning his Master’s Degree (University of Chicago, 1961) and Ph. D. (University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1967) in History. After his first appointment as an Instructor at The Ohio State University (1964-1967), he dedicated the rest of his professional life to the University of Oklahoma, where he met his beloved wife Lynne, a scholar of medieval English literature and a loving companion until the very end. They married in 1969 and together made a home in Norman and on the OU campus that was nurturing and stimulating for their two children and welcoming to all who crossed their paths.

Apart from brief teaching stints at Oxford University’s Rewley House and the University of Missouri—Rolla (now Missouri S&T), David served the University of Oklahoma with skill and passion for more than four decades as professor, colleague, scholar, and mentor to countless students and aspiring historians. Named a David Ross Boyd Professor in 1987, a Presidential Professor in 1999, and the Rothbaum Professor of History in 2003, he retired from OU in 2006, the same year he was inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame. In addition to serving as Chair of the Faculty Senate, he was actively involved in the OU Honors College from its beginnings as well as in the establishment of the Judaic Studies Program in 1997. David’s dedication to undergraduate education teaching earned him the Regent’s Award for Superior Teaching in 1973 and the OU Student Association’s Award for Outstanding Teacher in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1985; his record inspired John and Anne Marucheck to endow the David Levy Prize, honoring the best student work in OU’s United States History survey courses. In 2016, the lobby of Dale Hall Tower was named the David Levy Lounge, in honor of his many contributions to the History Department. During his so-called retirement, until his final months, David remained uncommonly active in the life of the campus and community that he loved so well, publishing four more books and continuing to share with students and civic groups his wit and wisdom on all the many topics in which he held such profound expertise.

As a scholar, David was best known nationally for his work on American intellectual history—particularly his biography (1984) of the progressive editor Herbert Croly (founder of The New Republic magazine) and his publication (with colleague Melvin I. Urofsky) of the letters of Supreme Court Chief Justice Louis D. Brandeis. In his edition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famous “Fireside Chats” (with colleague Russell D. Buhite) and especially in his book The Debate over Vietnam (1995), he treated periods of crisis in American history by exploring, not ignoring their intricacies. He shared his insights broadly with the public and with the men and women stationed on US army bases across Europe and at home as part of the University’s Continuing Education Programs.

Locally, David was especially revered as author of the multi-volume University of Oklahoma: A History, a project of careful chronicle and ingeniously recounted anecdote that continues to be a resource and a delight to readers across the state. Many campus signs and monuments display his graceful and efficient prose. He lectured frequently about the complexities of the University’s past, particularly about the process of its desegregation by Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher and George McLaurin, about whom he published a book, Breaking down Barriers in 2020. In addition to regular contributions to the Sooner Magazine describing his fascinating finds in OU’s Western History Collections, David edited and annotated a volume released just this year called Sooner Doughboys Write Home: The University of Oklahoma and World War I.

In his University and his civic service, which included periods on the Norman Planning Commission, Friends of the Norman Library, the State Board of the ACLU, and the Board of the YMCA, David has always taken his work seriously and treated his associates with respect and integrity. In recent years, his standing-room-only courses for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, have allowed many to benefit from his fierce but friendly intelligence and his legendary sense of humor—a trait that drew him close to Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers and that infused his acclaimed biography Mark Twain: The Divided Mind of America’s Best Loved Writer (2010). Like Twain’s, David’s sense of humor was an ever-changing fountain, refreshing those around him. It bubbled quietly under the surface of everyday conversation, provided the undercurrent of countless wedding toasts and after-dinner remarks, and to the very end it erupted with joy to give life and comfort even in distressing moments.

By times an aficionado of woodworking, handball, cycling, classical music, and swimming, his lasting passions allowed him to unite intellectual stimulation and sociability. Together with a group of close friends, he pioneered a reading group in 1980 that has met monthly ever since, discussing well over 300 books, across an astonishing range of fiction and nonfiction. Until his final weeks, he looked forward with fierce anticipation to weekly chess matches, where love of the game mingled with debate on the finer points of port and politics. With family and friends, David loved road trips, crafting meticulous itineraries that took him across the country—above all to the national parks of American Southwest, where he found both inspiration and enjoyment.

David was, as his colleagues have noted, a brilliant and thoughtful conversationalist. He was a storyteller. Those who have read his history of the University, his narrative of its desegregation, or his writings on Mark Twain can appreciate his way with words—a gift that also translated into wonderful bedtime stories, finely crafted letters, and lively dinner-table talk. In all these stories, he sought to connect us with the human experiences of others like and unlike ourselves—a trait that he modeled in the strong connections he maintained over many decades with his students, graduate students, and colleagues. Like his tremendous scholarship, his rich and multigenerational circles of friends represent a lasting and admirable legacy.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his younger brother Richard, cousins Leonard and Robert Levy, and by two aunts and uncles, Marian and Henry Pollack and Elmer and Della Levy. He is survived by his wife of nearly 56 years, Lynne; by his daughter Beth, son-in-law Joel, and granddaughter Amanda of Walnut Creek, California; by his son Benjamin, daughter-in-law Martha, and grandson Joshua of Goleta, California; by his sister-in-law Linnea of Chicago; and by cousins Betty (and William) Shapiro of New Jersey and Carol Jo Brown of California and their families.

David requested no immediate funeral services; a memorial will be held later in the fall. Those who wish to honor his memory may contribute to the David and Lynne Levy Discretionary History Fund to help support OU History Department activities and student scholarships  (https://give.oufoundation.org/LevyMemorial). Please leave your messages and memories for the family below.