[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 14 (Thursday, January 23, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S329-S330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

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                        REMEMBERING DANIEL LEVIN

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, after the Great Fire destroyed much of 
central London in 1666, the city was rebuilt with even grander and 
stronger buildings than before. The most majestic building of all in 
the new London was St. Paul's Cathedral, designed by the great 
architect Sir Christopher Wren. There is no monument to Wren. But on

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the dome of St. Paul's, written in Latin, is an inscription. It says: 
``If you seek his memorial--look around you.''
  Daniel Levin was a visionary real estate developer, civic leader, and 
generous philanthropist who loved Chicago, its neighborhoods, and its 
people. Sadly, he died earlier this month.
  There is no monument to Dan Levin, either. But if you want to see 
what he meant to Chicago--and what Chicago meant to him--just look 
around our great city.
  Over half a century, Dan Levin's real estate development and 
management company, the Habitat Company, built structures that 
redefined Chicago's skyline.
  Drive into Chicago on the Kennedy Expressway and you will see the 
Presidential Towers, four soaring skyscrapers of upscale condos and 
apartments in the West Loop.
  Take a cruise along the Chicago River and you will pass the East Bank 
Club, one of the finest health and fitness clubs anywhere in America.
  Follow the river to where it meets Lake Michigan and you will come to 
Cityfront Plaza, another tower of apartments and condos surrounded by a 
bucolic green oasis of a park.
  He created other landmark buildings including South Commons, Columbus 
Plaza, ONE333, and many others.
  But Dan Levin didn't build and manage only luxury properties. His 
faith in Chicago's people and their extraordinary potential led to 
Habitat's creation of nearly 25,000 rental housing units for people of 
all incomes.
  His ``North Star,'' his family says, was his belief that all people 
deserve to live in a home and a neighborhood they can he proud of.
  He described his business philosophy this way: ``No project is only 
an investment in real estate. It is an investment in the future of the 
community and the lives of the people who live and work there.''
  His confidence and his love for Chicago led him to take risks and to 
invest in parts of the city that others overlooked. And time after 
time, those risks paid off. His buildings attracted other new 
investments that transformed once blighted areas into vibrant 
neighborhoods.
  Dan had a rare gift to see potential where others saw only problems. 
The Presidential Towers, for example, stand on what was once Chicago's 
Skid Row. The East Bank Club was built on the site of an abandoned 
railroad yard. In a once-gritty neighborhood that many Chicagoans 
feared to drive through even during the day, Dan created a world-class 
fitness club and an outstanding restaurant, where he loved to host 
Seders every Passover. You never knew who you would see at the East 
Bank Club. You might find yourself in a Pilates class with Oprah when 
she was member. Years ago, Dan became friends with a young law 
professor from the University of Chicago who used to come to the club 
to play basketball. That young hoopster-professor went on to become 
President of the United States, Barack Obama.
  Dan Levin was a ``social entrepreneur'' decades before anyone had 
ever heard that term. He believed that he could make money and do good, 
and that is exactly what he did for 50 years. He almost certainly would 
have made more money if he had concentrated exclusively on upscale 
buildings. But Dan Levin wasn't in business to make a killing; he 
wanted to make communities.
  Probably his biggest professional challenge came in 1987 when a 
Federal judge appointed the Habitat Company to serve as a receiver for 
the then-bankrupt and badly mismanaged Chicago Housing Authority. The 
job was massive: Manage all of Chicago's public housing, except senior 
housing, and rehab or replace thousands of dilapidated housing units. 
The receivership lasted 23 years--23 years. By the time it ended, 
hundreds of blighted apartment buildings across the city had been torn 
down, including highrises that had become towers of poverty. With Dan 
as chairman and Valerie Jarrett as the company's CEO, Habitat replaced 
the highrises with townhouses, and replaced concrete with green spaces. 
All told, the company built or rehabbed 4,000 units of public housing. 
Many developers might have been intimidated by such a massive 
undertaking. But Dan Levin saw it as a civic responsibility and a 
chance to give back to a city that had given him so much.
  You see, Dan wasn't born in Chicago. He was born and grew up in 
Detroit, the grandson of Jewish Ukrainian immigrants. His father was a 
judge. One of his brothers became a Federal judge, and another became a 
justice on the Michigan Supreme Court. And two of his cousins, whom he 
thought of almost like his brothers, became distinguished Members of 
Congress, Senator Carl Levin and Representative Sander Levin.
  Dan assumed he would follow in the family footsteps. He graduated 
from the University of Chicago law school and went to work as legal 
counsel for a Detroit real estate developer that constructed many 
buildings and homes designed by Mies van der Rohe, one of the giants of 
20th century architecture. In 1960, the founder of that company, Dan's 
mentor, died in a plane crash. Dan stepped in to finish the project his 
boss had been overseeing, another van der Rohe building--and he 
discovered that he loved creating buildings. So he left the law and 
became a developer. A short time later, he moved to Chicago, the 
birthplace of skyscrapers and other architectural marvels. His 
buildings now stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the great 
architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries.
  In addition to his work, Dan loved classical music. He was a devoted 
supporter and board member of WFMT, Chicago's classical music station. 
He was also a trustee of WTTW Public Television, vice chairman of the 
Environmental Law and Policy Center, and a generous supporter of the 
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the Harris School of Public 
Policy at his alma mater, the University of Illinois.
  He was kind, modest, and generous with a happy spirit and a twinkle 
in his eye. He was equally at ease speaking with Uber drivers as with 
Presidents.
  He was devoted to his family: his son Josh Levin; his daughters Jil 
Deheeger and Betsy Bernardaud; and their spouses; his 11 grandchildren 
and 2 great-grandchildren; and his step-children Alyssa Rapp and 
Jeffrey Rapp. Most of all, he adored his wife and partner, former 
Ambassador Fay Hartog-Levin. The only time they were separated was when 
Fay served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, and even then, Dan 
crossed the ocean many times to be by her side.
  Loretta and I offer our deep condolences to Fay and all of Dan's 
family in this sad time.
  Daniel Levin was a good man, a visionary leader, and a true mensch. 
Loretta and I and the people of Chicago will miss him. But, as I said, 
if we want to see his legacy, all we have to do is look around. We are 
a better city because Dan Levin lived among us.

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