JACQUELINE LEVINE

LEVINE--Jacqueline Koldin. Jacqueline Levine, 99, died on August 11, 2025 in West Caldwell, NJ, after 'A Wonderful Activist Life', the title of her biography. Proud daughter of Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, and a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, Jackie was a pioneering advocate for civil rights and Jewish communal leadership for over six decades. A 1942 Bryn Mawr College graduate and former Trustee, she married Howard Levine in 1949 and raised three children. Her activism spanned from protesting Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954, to participating in the 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March with Dr. Martin Luther King, to holding leadership roles in local and national organizations. In 1969 she became national president of the Council of Jewish Federations' women's division, and she became the first woman to chair the American Jewish Congress governing council in 1980. Levine was instrumental in Soviet Jewry advocacy, leading the 1986-87 Mobilization for Soviet Jewry that brought 250,000 protesters to Washington in December 1987 and allowed more than one million Jews to leave the Soviet Union. She co-founded MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, and the Jewish Fund for Justice, and was chair of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (now JCPA). She was a lifetime member of the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Metrowest New Jersey. A powerful speaker and early feminist, Levine challenged Jewish organizations to embrace women's leadership, breaking barriers that opened doors for future generations. Predeceased by Howard, her husband of 73 years, Jackie is survived by her children Ellen Cramer, Stephen (Suzanne), and Ned (Beth); six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and her sister Nina Solarz.