Irving S. Levitt
June 5, 1926-Feb. 7, 2022
Irv Levitt ventured off to Dover, Delaware from New York in the late sixties and never had the slightest inkling to look back. He and his wife, Phyllis, became proud Delawareans and tireless fixtures in the community ever since.
With him he brought the grit of having served in General Patton's 3rd army in WWII. He rose to become Manager of the Social Security office and then advanced on to serve as a Dover City Councilman.
His public service activities didn't stop there. He was president of Friends of the Dover Public Library, was appointed to the Delaware Board of Nursing and the Industrial Accident Board, and he wrote a regular column for The Delaware State News. When not reaching out to serve the wider community, Irv was a leader of his synagogue, Congregation Beth Sholom.
A tireless spirit of artistic creation also resided in him. Irv was a self-trained artist who made drawings and paintings for over 90 years, starting with doodling in the 1930s as a child. His paintings of imagined people were a kind of expressionism, a style that focuses on emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world.
Growing up during the depression, Irv always sided with the underdog, and his painted characters embody Irv's warm sympathy for the struggles of ordinary people. His appreciation for writers like Stephen Crane and Nathaniel West also highlight his empathic respect for the everyday person.
It is not surprising that he believed in the Social Security Administration's goal of supporting people, especially in their more vulnerable later years.
Irv is survived by his sister, Muriel Wilson, in Florida; his daughter, Laura Levitt, and her partner, David Harrington Watt, in Philadelphia; and his son, David Levitt, and his wife, Stacy Zhang, in Newark, Delaware.
Funeral Service will be held on Monday, February 14, 2022, at 1 p.m. at Congregation Beth Sholom in Dover followed by a graveside service at Sharon Hills Memorial Park. The Service will be on Zoom to avoid large crowds. Do consider joining us via Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87170356330
• Meeting ID: 871 7035 6330
• Dial in for audio-only +1 301 715 859
There will be an additional Zoom Memorial/Shiva on Wednesday Evening please contact the family for more information.
Donations may be made to Congregation Beth Sholom or the Dover Art League in honor of Irv's life.
Letters of condolence may be sent, and guestbook signed at www.torbertfuneral.com