[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 171 (Wednesday, October 18, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5083-S5084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING JOYCE LEVITON
Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, next week, on October 24, family and
friends will gather to celebrate the life of Joyce Leviton, a beloved
member of my staff who passed away after a courageous battle with
cancer. I imagine it will be a rather large gathering because Joyce
touched so many people. And while we grieve her death, the event will
indeed be a celebration of her life, a life she lived brimming with
contagious happiness and enthusiasm and kindness.
Joyce was born and raised in Baltimore and graduated from Forest Park
High School and Towson University, earning her bachelor's degree in
history in 1966. In 1970, she went to work for the Baltimore City
Department of Planning as a community planner for the Third District, a
position she held until 1988, when she became chief of community
planning. She excelled at her job because she loved it but, more
importantly, because she loved people and she loved Baltimore. Joyce
had a knack for bringing people together and giving them a voice in
their communities and in the city. Everyone was Joyce's neighbor. As I
said at the time of her death, ``Joyce is Baltimore and she loved our
community and wanted it to be the best it could possibly be, and always
went the extra mile. When she spoke about Baltimore, it was from the
heart. She was a person who made a difference.''
I was fortunate to have Joyce work on my Senate campaign in 2006 and
then join my staff as a trusted senior adviser and community liaison
after the election. Joyce would organize groups of people from
Baltimore and across the State and bring them to the Capitol for tours
and luncheons and lectures. She met and worked with Maryland's arts and
humanities and cultural organizations. She was my ambassador. Everyone
I met--from all corners of Maryland, it seemed--already knew Joyce and
was so fond of her.
The Baltimore Sun obituary referred to Joyce as a ``political
junkie.'' That is an understatement. Joyce started working on campaigns
at an early age, and she never stopped. She was deeply involved from
the national to the State to the local level. As the Sun noted, Joyce
was one of the founders of the Second District New Democratic Club in
the early 1970s ``one of the first political groups that joined Black
and white residents from across the city and resulted in integrated and
progressive tickets for city and state elections.''
Joyce was never content to rest on her laurels--or even rest at all.
She was a member of the steering committee for the Baltimore City Fair
and National Advisory Council of Neighborhood Reinvestment; a board
member and vice president of the Citizens Planning and Housing
Association; a founder of Women Employed in Baltimore and Live
Baltimore, an organization that encouraged people to move to Baltimore;
a member of the National Organization for Women; executive secretary of
Young Democrats of Baltimore; and an active member of Beth Am
Synagogue. She formed or joined book clubs, and she loved to attend
cultural events. Joyce was the epitome of a civic activist and
absolutely committed to social justice, what we members of the Jewish
faith call ``Tzedakah''--making the world a fair and more just place--
and ``Tikkun Olam''--repairing the world. We are closer to that ideal
because of Joyce.
Another one of Joyce's lifelong passions was the Baltimore Orioles.
She moved to Otterbein in 1981. When Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened
in 1992, she could walk to the stadium to attend games, which she did--
often. She was no casual fan. The regular season wasn't enough for
Joyce; she enjoyed going to Sarasota to watch the team during spring
training.
Joyce loved people, but she especially loved her family: her sisters
Susan and Audrey and their husbands Jeffrey Lauren and Peter Martin.
She doted on her nephews and nieces and their spouses, Jake (Stephanie
Martin), Liz (Shai Lauros), and Josh (Taieri McKenzie) and their
children: Max, Lucy, and Emma Martin; Reuben and Micah Lauros; and Lola
Lauren. Extended family includes her cousin Neil Tucker, who was more
like a brother to her, his wife Laura, and their children Michael,
Molly, and Will. She loved to spend weekends and vacations with her
family in Rehoboth Beach, Maine, and Vermont.
Everyone who knew Joyce will miss her, but we are all so grateful for
the opportunity we had to share her friendship and love. And we are all
so grateful for the indelible mark she made on Baltimore and across
Maryland.
The Baltimore Sun had a lovely obituary, and I would ask unanimous
consent that it be printed in the Record following my remarks.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Baltimore Sun, Jul. 27, 2023]
Joyce E. Leviton, Former Baltimore Community Planning Chief, Activist
and Civic Booster, Dies
(By Frederick N. Rasmussen)
Joyce E. Leviton, a political activist and civic booster
who was chief of community planning for the Baltimore
Department of Planning and later became a member of Sen.
Benjamin L. Cardin's staff, died of cancer July 19 at
Gilchrist Center in Towson. The longtime Otterbein resident
was 78.
``Joyce is Baltimore and she loved our community and wanted
it to be the best it could possibly be, and always went the
extra mile,'' Sen. Cardin said. ``When she spoke about
Baltimore, it was from the heart. She was a person who made a
difference. She touched so many lives in a genuine and
special way.''
Former City Council President Mary Pat Clarke said: ``She
meant the world to me and was the center of life itself and
in all of its dimensions. The loss of Joyce is the loss of
the center of life that no one can replace. Everywhere and
everyone, she loved all comers.''
``Joyce was ebullient, colorful, kind, a great listener and
dedicated to public service,'' said Phoebe Stein, director of
the Federation of State Humanities Councils and former
executive director of Maryland Humanities, who was a longtime
friend.
``She was very vibrant and curious about the world and took
joy in her work and connecting with people. She lived life to
the fullest, her family was her joy, and she was interested
in everything that was going on in Maryland and particularly
Baltimore.''
Joyce Ellen Leviton, daughter of Max Leviton, a
bacteriologist and manager at the Joseph E. Seagram and Sons
Inc. distillery in Relay, and Goldie Bernstein Leviton, an
administrative assistant for the state Department of Human
Resources, was born in Baltimore and raised in Pimlico
neighborhood.
[[Page S5084]]
She was a graduate of Forest Park High School and attended
the University of Maryland, College Park before earning a
bachelor's degree in history in 1966 from what is now Towson
University.
``From an early age, Joyce didn't want to be politically
like our parents. She was a progressive Democrat and wanted
to fight for people,'' said a sister, Susan Leviton of
Otterbein.
A political junkie from an early age, Ms. Leviton worked on
Rep. Carlton R. Sickles' unsuccessful 1966 Maryland
gubernatorial run, in which he narrowly lost the Democratic
nomination to George P. Mahoney--a contest that had racial
overtones.
Ms. Leviton was one of the founders in the 1970s of the
Second District New Democratic Club, which was one of the
first political groups that joined Black and white residents
from across the city and resulted in integrated and
progressive tickets for city and state elections.
``The success of that campaign led to future campaigns such
as the Clarke/Dalton team, Mary Pat Clarke, Clarence H. `Du'
Burns, Nathan Irby, Maggie McIntosh, Anne Perkins and many
others,'' according to a biographical profile submitted by
Ms. Leviton's family.
She was a member of the national staff for George McGovern
and John Kerry. In 2006, she was a volunteer coordinator and
advance coordinator for Sen. Cardin's campaign. She attended
five Democratic conventions.
If politics helped define who Ms. Leviton was, it was also
her abiding love for Baltimore that shaped her long career
with the city planning department.
Ms. Leviton joined the department as a 3rd District
community planner in 1970, when it was headed by the
legendary and visionary Larry Reich. She held this role until
being appointed chief of community planning in 1988.
``She loved communities and liked getting neighbors
involved and having a voice in the city. That's the theme of
Joyce,'' her sister said. ``She loved the city and was quite
the ambassador for Baltimore. When new people came to town,
she got them to move to the city and stay in the city.''
``Joyce and I met at the planning department in 1971 when
we were both assigned to review hundreds of zoning changes
for the Planning commission under the recently adopted zoning
code,'' Alfred W. Barry III, who retired as assistant
planning director in 1995, wrote in an email.
``This work took her throughout the city and her interest
in neighborhoods blossomed. From there she became the 3rd
District community planner and subsequently chief of
community planning, where she hired and mentored two
community planners, Thomas J. Stosur and Chris Ryer, who
later became planning directors,'' wrote Mr. Barry, the
founder and president of AB Associates.
Said Mr. Stosur, who headed the department from 2009 until
retiring in 2018: ``First of all, Joyce was an incredible
Baltimore booster and was so enthusiastic and brought that to
her work with the planning department and was overjoyed to be
a part of it.
``She said it was her `favorite job ever,' and she was very
good at developing relationships with neighborhoods and
politicians. She was the combination of enthusiasm and
honesty, and that's what was so impressive about Joyce. As a
founding member of the New Democratic Club, her love and
skill at community-based politics fed naturally into her
successful role planning to ensure that city neighborhoods
had a voice.''
After working on Sen. Cardin's 2006 campaign, Ms. Leviton
joined his Capitol Hill staff in 2007 as a senior adviser.
``When Joyce died, I heard from dozens and dozens of people
from all walks of life who had been touched by her,'' he
said. ``When she was given the diagnosis of cancer about a
year ago, she still kept going and remained fully engaged.
She was just a lovely person.''
``Joyce's position on Sen. Cardin's staff could never
summarize all that she did for the people of Maryland,'' said
Phoebe Stein, director of the Federation of State Humanities
Councils and former executive director of Maryland
Humanities, who is a longtime friend.
``She had an amazing ability, a gift really, to bridge the
D.C. and Baltimore, and many communities in between. Of
course, she was at every Cardin event, but more amazingly,
she was at every cultural event in Maryland that mattered to
her and the senator.
``And when she arrived, she was informed, focused, smiling
and authentically supportive. She knew the ins and outs of
every cultural organization in Maryland. You will not find a
smarter, kinder, more capable, more knowledgeable advocate
for Maryland's cultural sector anywhere.''
Said Mr. Barry: ``Her role as an advance person for
political campaigns came naturally. She could enter a room
filled with strangers and leave with five invitations for
dinner.''
With the coronavirus pandemic coming in 2020, Ms. Leviton
began working from Sen. Cardin's office and had not retired
at her death.
Ms. Leviton cut a wide swath across numerous boards and
commissions in the city, including serving as a member of the
steering committee for the Baltimore City Fair and National
Advisory Council of Neighborhood Reinvestment, and as a board
member and vice president of Citizens Planning and Housing
Association.
She was a founder of Women Employed in Baltimore and Live
Baltimore, an organization that encouraged people to settle
and stay in the city. She was also a member of the National
Organization for Women, executive secretary of Young
Democrats of Baltimore, and a member of Beth Am Synagogue,
where she on the social action committee.
Being a resident of Otterbein since 1981 allowed Ms.
Leviton to indulge her lifelong passion for the Orioles and
walk to games at Camden Yards.
She was an integral part of the South Baltimore-Federal
Hill social scene, where she had established a book club and
enjoyed dining in restaurants and cafes.
An inveterate traveler, she enjoyed visiting Europe,
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Maine and Vermont.
Plans for an autumn celebration of life gathering are
incomplete.
In addition to her sister, Ms. Leviton is survived by
another sister, Audrey Leviton of Homeland, and several
nieces and nephews.
____________________