Such sad news. Paul was a wonderful fellow - smart, talented, creative, kind. Deep condolences to Marie-Louise and the rest of the family.

A big loss for those who knew and loved him.

I drove Paul as a volunteer driver.....he was so interesting and talented and I always looked forward to seeing him. I'm sorry for your loss.

Dear friends of R. Paul Levine: I knew Paul professionally for more than 40 years. I first met him in 1981 when I took up my position of Professor of Genetics at Washington University in St. Louis where Paul was a faculty member. Before that, I of course knew of and admired Paul’s Genetics book with Ursula Goodenough. It was a standard in the field; any aspiring geneticist ought to have read it. On our first meeting, he said “I’ve just read your recent paper in Journal of Bacteriology.” Flattered out of my shoes, I said, “What did you think of it?” He replied, “I think a responsible editor would never have published it.” Chastened, I retreated; the results in the paper were indeed controversial, but then, within a year, they were confirmed by another, unaffiliated, research group, and Paul and I became – not yet friends – but respected associates. By happenstance, I become chair of the department in 1984 and found myself Paul’s boss! Being from Harvard, he had a taste for lab expansion and used undergraduate researchers to expand his space, but being short on space in the department I said no. He was not especially unhappy – it was a ploy, after all – so there was nothing to upset our quasi-stable equilibrium. When Paul decided to retire and submitted his resignation, a few days later the stock market plummeted. He thought he had been due a retirement benefit from Washington University that was denied him. He had it explained to him that this benefit was due (as I recall) to faculty in life sciences but not to faculty in the medical school. Paul was obviously in the life sciences, and, as his boss (and in this case advocate), I prevailed upon the dean to have this benefit extended to him as a special case – and succeeded. When Paul left Washington University, he gifted me with a few books he had acquired through the years. They were publications of Thomas Hunt Morgan, one of the founders of modern genetics, and his students. The books were autographed by the authors. They are still on my bookshelf, and I still treasure them. After Paul went to Stanford we lost contact for many years thereafter. But finally, a few years ago, we met up again at Martha’s Vineyard. He was bright, alert, his memory fresh and he was willing to talk. I decided to interview him about his past and the history of genetics and his memories of the historical figures he has known. I had planned to do a series of interview I provisionally called “Conversations with R. Paul Levine.” I bought a special tape recorder and had hoped to visit Paul and record interviews from time to time, but the Covid pandemic brought an end to these hopes, and the tape recorder is now collecting dust on my shelf. Dear Paul: I miss you. Genetics will miss you. My wife, Christine, misses you. Your memoirs, Paul, my friend, is only part of what this pandemic has cost us. May you rest in peace. Daniel Hartl Higgens Pofessor of Biology AAS, NAS

The world lost a great person.

Dr. Levine was my mentor during the first half of my Senior year at college, where I studied Chlamydomonas in an honors research course. I had taken Genetics under him previously and like three other seniors chose to work in his laboratory afterwards. He took a sabbatical in the second half of my Senior year, so I never saw him again but his influence on me, pointing me towards a career in scientific research, was invaluable to me. I am sorry he has died but I am glad he lived a long, productive life and left an important legacy.