Elsie Goodman LEVITON

LEVITON, Elsie Goodman

Elsie Goodman Leviton, described as "a very smart, caring Southern Jewish woman" and in her own words "a born do-gooder," passed away June 06, 2014, at age 99. Mrs. Leviton was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, and lived in Palm Beach, Florida, for 70 years. She moved to Florida in 1944 with her husband Lory, a pediatrician in the Army, who was stationed at Belle Glade Hospital. She met and married Lory at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, where she graduated with a major in Music and English. She was a Centennial Ambassador of the Town of Palm Beach, an honorary appointment for her long-standing historic relationship to the Town; a longtime member of Temple Israel in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she founded, managed and chaired the Temple Israel library for over 50 years. Her civic activities were wide-ranging: President of the League of Women's Voters of West Palm Beach; lobbied for the Equal Rights Amendment; Democratic Club of the Palm Beaches; first woman to serve on the Palm Beach County's zoning board; Planned Parenthood; Civic Music Association; the Palm Beach County Library System, where she helped organize the county-wide library system; she taught English as a Second Language and Citizenship for twenty years; and served on numerous boards including the Community Relations Council of the Palm Beach County Jewish Federation, Commission on the Status of Women, Channel 20, Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Family and Children's Society. She was a dedicated supporter of the State of Israel as well as Jewish organizations Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Hadassah Hospital and School, AIPAC-American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and Weizmann Institute of Science. She is survived by her two children, Ann Leviton of South St. Paul, MN, and Joan Laderberg and her husband Reid of Virginia Beach, VA; her beloved grandchildren Lauren Elise Morgan Mawyer and her husband Jason Mawyer and Benjamin Paul Laderberg. She is also survived by her sister, Zelma Goodman Rivin, as well as her loyal and devoted caregiver, Lucane St Louis, her loving nieces and nephews and numerous dear friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, Isaac and Belle Goodman, her sister, Helen Goodman Gifford, her son, Robert Lawrence Leviton, and her husband, Lawrence Robert Leviton, to whom she was married for 65 years. Donations in her honor may be made to the Temple Israel Library or Temple Israel, the Children's Home Society, and Jewish Family and Children's Services, West Palm Beach, FL. A private funeral will be held immediately, followed by a public memorial service celebrating Mrs. Leviton's life at 3 pm Sunday, June 22 at Temple Israel of West Palm Beach.

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