Lois Carol Levitan

Lois was born in Borough Park, Brooklyn, the middle child of Norma (née Brounstein) and Paul Levitan. She grew up and was educated in the public schools of Mount Vernon, New York, and it was during those years that Lois first became interested in and began to observe the relationship between people and the environment.

Lois started college at the University of Chicago, where she explored anthropology both in and out of the classroom. During spring break, for example, she took a spontaneous adventure by train to Santa Fe to experience indigenous culture. Typical of Lois, upon arrival, she soon made friends with a Navajo woman, who happened to be an anthropologist, and invited Lois to stay at her home through Easter. After two years of college, Lois decided to leave the University of Chicago to engage more fully with 1960s civil rights and political activism, including operating an anti-war coffee house near a military base in South Carolina. In those formative years, she also travelled from London, UK, to the border of Bangladesh and back, driving a Ford Transit with her future husband, Erwin Reiner. Relying on a compass and a World Atlas, they crossed Iran and Afghanistan, and then spent six months living in India, before returning to Europe and flying home.

Lois and Erwin settled in Syracuse, where Lois finished her undergraduate studies at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Forest Biology. In these years, Lois and Erwin became beekeepers and active members of the Syracuse Peace Council. Their two children were born, Josiah in 1976 and Katie (Katya) in 1979. In her book Improve Your Gardening With Backyard Research, published by Rodale Press in 1980, Lois brought her characteristic curiosity and inquiring mind to everyday practices of gardening (and anticipated currently popular projects of “citizen science” by decades).

In 1982, Lois moved to Ithaca with Josiah and Katie so that she could pursue graduate studies at Cornell. During graduate school and beyond, she participated in research assessing the environmental and social impacts of agricultural pesticides. She received her MS in Natural Resources Management in 1988. Her doctoral research involved extensive interviews with more than 100 residents in the Catskills region about their uses of local natural resources in a context of increasing tourism, land development pressures, and changes in both formal and informal economic networks. Lois received her PhD in Natural Resources Management in 1994.

Lois’s professional connection to Cornell continued through her career. As a Program Leader at Cornell’s Center for the Environment and in the Department of Communication, she developed the Environmental Risk Analysis Program (ERAP). Through ERAP, she authored, organized, and disseminated public information on the West Nile virus and created the Recycle Agricultural Plastics Project, focused on developing recycling markets, especially for the sheet plastic used by many farms. Lois also taught undergraduate courses in Science Writing for the Media at Cornell.

Lois’s greatest passion was reserved for her children and grandchildren. Her sweet nuclear family of Lois, Josiah, and Katie was shattered in 1997 when Josiah died in a car crash at the age of 21, bringing a profound sorrow into her life. The family, which by then included Lois’s life-partner, Martha Armstrong, gradually found ways to continue discovering and engaging in the joys of life. In 2000, Lois and Martha welcomed their son, Teo. Later, Katie and her partner, Becca, added two delightful grandchildren, Sami and Micah. Lois was deeply engaged in each child’s life, whether taking a deep dive into philosophy, exploring the mysteries of nature, camping in the Everglades, or cheering for a sports team. Throughout her life, Lois served as a linchpin in the greater Levitan family, whose multi-generational annual gathering attracts up to 75 loving cousins to New Jersey each summer.

Another important and lifelong passion for Lois was land preservation and plants. Lois served on the founding board of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, was a key member of the Ecological Advisory Council of Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve, and an avid, active member of the Finger Lakes Native Plants Society. In retirement, Lois became a docent at the Cornell Botanic Gardens and a dedicated volunteer at Cornell’s Mundy Wildflower Garden. Her long-standing interest in vegetable gardening and houseplants became augmented by her commitment to restoring native habitat diversity – from propagating ferns, to replacing lawns with native plants to support birds and beneficial insects, to recording the dates of native plant blooms in the Mundy Wildflower Garden. Lois took great joy in learning all about birds, taking bird walks, or floating in a kayak on a winding inlet to spot a warbler.

In retirement, Lois and Martha loved traveling together to warmer climates in the winter – floating in the Everglades, hiking through rainforests, and discovering new worlds. The journey with cancer this winter cut short many years of planned future adventures.

Among the many communities that sustained Lois and which she helped to sustain over the years, several were particularly meaningful. These include: the Syracuse Peace Council, the Lehman Alternative Community School, Longhouse Cooperative, Congregation Tikkun v’Or, and the Cornell Botanic Gardens volunteers.

Lois was predeceased by her parents and her son Josiah, as well as cousins Ann, Steve, and Mark. She is survived by her partner of 33 years, Martha, as well as children Teo and Katya (Becca Wisotsky), grandchildren Sami and Micah, siblings Rita and Alan, and a large clan of loving cousins.

Lois will be buried at Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve on Tuesday, May 20th, at 2:30 PM with a graveside service followed by a reception at Congregation Tikkun v’Or. The cremains of her son Josiah will be buried with her.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Cornell Wildflower Garden to enhance the Bloom Board at the entry of the Mundy Wildflower Garden. Per Lois’ wishes, the Bloom Board enhancement will be completed in honor of Krissy Boys, dear friend and gardener extraordinaire, and in memory of Lois. Contributions can be made online by visiting the link here or by check made payable to Cornell University and mailed to Cornell University, Box 37334, Boone, IA 50037. Please indicate that the gift is in memory of Lois Levitan.