Eugene Levin

1930 - 2020

Eugene Levin
1930 - 2020
Resident of Sunnyvale
Dr. Eugene Levin, aged 90, passed away after struggling with Lewy body dementia for several years. He was in his own home, having been lovingly attended by a team of long-term caregivers, assisted by Vitas Hospice nurses and staff. He is survived by his wife Donna Scott, three adult children from a prior marriage: Mark (mining engineer), Kerry (veterinarian), and Levin (attorney), and a grandson (Alexander).
Born in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, to Russian immigrants, Gene obtained Bachelor's (summa cum laude) and Master's degrees in Physics, and a PhD. in Mathematics from UCLA (1955). Many years later he earned another BA (with honors) in Chemistry from the University of Colorado (1983), still later studied quantum mechanics at Stanford, and then earned a certificate in bioinformatics (with honors) from UC Santa Cruz (2003).
Gene was proud of his "As a matter of fact, I am a rocket scientist" T-shirt. His career began in the Cold War missile computer-control and flight trajectory industry, in which he worked for Rand, Aerospace, Systems Development Corporation (now part of Unisys), and other companies. For a number of years he worked in Colorado Springs on command-and-control and computer upgrade projects at NORAD. His last employment was with the Research Institution for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) and then ELORET Corporation, both based at the NASA Ames Research Center. His last project involved what he described as "the non-equilibrium transport properties of gas mixtures at extreme temperatures using supercomputers to solve the applicable quantum mechanical equations." Much of his work he never discussed, either because it was classified or because few could understand it anyway.
Gene had a life-master USCF chess rating (2200), and his chess career began as a teenager in the 1940's under the tutelage of Herman Steiner. He was an avid skier, hiker, kayaker, river-rafter, and scuba diver. He was proud of his 1950's-era scuba certification card issued by the LA Parks and Recreation Department, which he would bring out to the bemusement (and sometimes shock) of dive-masters. He was a lifetime fitness buff, participated in Senior Olympics (discus and shotput), and competed in body-building events well into his 70s. He was skilled at underwater photography and classical and flamenco guitar.
There will be no public services.


View the online memorial for Eugene  Levin