Michael M. Levy

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Ohio State University University of Illinois University of Minnesota

Michael Levy Obituary

Michael M. Levy, Menomonie, died April 4, 2017, of cancer after a brief period of hospitalization and hospice care.

Levy was born April 15, 1950, in Chicago. From the beginning he was a little professor, teaching himself to read from Dr. Seuss books at age five and later teaching his younger cousin John Block that same way. Throughout his school years, he always walked to school with an open book in his hand. He attended the University of Illinois for his BA (1972), Ohio State University for his MA (1974), and the University of Minnesota for his PhD (1982). He began teaching English at the University of Wisconsin Stout in 1980, where he remained for his entire career, teaching courses in composition, Children's literature and Science Fiction, and serving as Chair of the English Department for approximately seven years. Throughout his career, he mentored many and was beloved for his kind, level-headed guidance and wisdom. Levy was a noted expert on children's, YA, and SF/F literature and served as President of both the Science Fiction Research Association and the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, where his effective leadership helped both organizations move into the 21st century by embracing gender and diversity in their leadership. He was an editor for the journal Extrapolation starting in 2006 and reviewed extensively for Publishers Weekly, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and other publications and served as an editorial board member of The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts from 2010 onward, positions which allowed him to indulge in his book addiction without actually buying many of them. His book reviews and essays number in the thousands. With Farah Mendlesohn, he co-wrote Children's Fantasy Literature: An Introduction (2016). Other critical books include Portrayal of South East Asian Refugees in Recent American Children's Books (2000), and Natalie Babbitt (1991), as well as an annotated edition of A. Merritt's The Moon Pool (2004). He also drew maps for fantasies by P.C. Hodgell. Throughout his life, Levy was actively engaged in secular humanism, supporting many human and animal rights charities.

He is survived by his wife of 34 years, teacher/editor/poet Sandra J. Lindow; and their two children, Scott McDonald and Miriam Levy.

A celebration of his life will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 420 Wilson Ave., Menomonie. Those in attendance are urged to wear their favorite t-shirts.

Memorial gifts can be given to various charities, including the Dunn County Humane Association, the American Cancer Society or Planned Parenthood.

To share a memory, please visit obituaries at www.olsonfuneral.com.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Chippewa Herald on Apr. 12, 2017.

Memories and Condolences
for Michael Levy

2 Entries

SRK

November 5, 2022

His kindness is remembered.
May his memory be a blessing to all.
Yehi zichra baruch.

David Lenander

April 30, 2017

Mike Levy joined the Rivendell Discussion Group of the Mythopoeic Society at the U of MN within its first few years, arriving, I think, with fellow English grad student Pat Hodgell. After completing his PhD, he was off to Menomenie, WI, and UW-Stout, and I don't know if we ever saw him again at a regular discussion, except perhaps for some meetings that were convened at local conventions, Minicon, Diversicon, or at Wiscon. We had heard him read at least one chapter of his PhD dissertation on 17th C. "fairy poetry," _The Transformations of Oberon_. A bit later, he was a participating writer in the writers' circle started by Eleanor Arnason and Ruth Berman, later known as the "Aaardvarks."

But we'd run into Mike and Sandy at those conventions, and via email and even through the regular post office--Mike was always a responsive and helpful expert who understood us in a context of a conversation that had begun at the U of MN but was still in some sense continuing. Mike was an enormous help to me when I rashly decided to refer the papers for Mythcon XXIV in '93--he was my backup guy whenever one of my other expert readers fell through, and he often read and thoughtfully commented on the papers within just a few days. And of course, we could rely upon him to fill in on any convention panel. For his many appearances on "what do I read next" or those panels on what good books he'd read this year, he would always thoughtfully provide handouts, too. On a more personal level, I remember him sharing a few pertinent stories about Miriam growing up when I talked about our daughter. In so many ways he was reassuring and steadying just because he'd already been there, done that. He'd read all of the right books, and 20 more that he could recommend, but always seemed to have patience to listen to me, really following some pathway he'd already taken.

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