Hillel Levinson, former Philadelphia managing director, longtime attorney, businessman, and track star, has died at 86

Hillel Levinson, 86, of Philadelphia, former city managing director, longtime attorney, business executive, and track star, died Monday, March 20, at Lankenau Medical Center of complications after a fall and brain surgery.

A civic-minded lawyer and businessman who set track records at Central High School, Temple University, and the Penn Relays, Mr. Levinson served as Philadelphia’s managing director under Mayor Frank Rizzo from 1972 to 1980. He worked with federal officials on city funding during his two terms, oversaw contentious labor negotiations with city workers, and supervised construction of Interstate 95 through Philadelphia, the Vine Street Expressway, and a Regional Rail line to the airport.

New recreation centers were opened during his tenure, mounted police returned to the streets, and Pope John Paul II visited in 1979. He directed many snowstorm responses and often said that one of his proudest achievements was declining to build a crosstown highway that would have disrupted the neighborhoods around South Street.

“I remember being sad that I was leaving the job,” he told City Paper in 2006. “It’s hard to walk away from something you love so much. The friendships you have, to some degree, stay on, but you lose touch with some of the people you worked with.”

Mr. Levinson became an associate attorney at Sprague, Goldberg and Rubenstone in 1980, moved to Harrisburg, and spent nearly two decades as a business executive, lobbyist, and management consultant. He said often that he would have liked to run for mayor but instead returned to Philadelphia in 1999 to work on Marty Weinberg’s unsuccessful campaign for mayor.

In 2005, he switched parties to run as a Republican against Democrat Alan Butkovitz for city controller. He was endorsed by the Daily News for his previous city government experience, but Butkovitz won the election. Mr. Levinson preached fiscal responsibility in that campaign, telling the Daily News: “I want to lock the barn door before the horse is gone. We should head off problems early, rather than having to chase someone later for money they didn’t deserve.”

As managing director in 1975, Mr. Levinson was charged by a state grand jury with perjury and extortion in connection with the awarding of city contracts. The charges were dismissed by state Superior Court in 1978, prosecutors declined to refile charges, and the state Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal.

Mr. Levinson and the Rizzo administration were also criticized for controversial Police Department policies, Philadelphia’s handling of the 1976 national Bicentennial celebration, and other issues. Asked by Philadelphia Magazine in 2005 why he returned to politics, Mr. Levinson said: “When I was a kid, my father used to tell me to stop complaining. Stop complaining and do something about it.”

Mr. Levinson was a record-setting sprinter at Central and Temple. He won championship races at the Penn Relays and college meets, and was inducted into the Temple hall of fame in 1979 and the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

“Hillel Levinson could really run,” former Overbrook High School, La Salle University, and U.S. Olympic sprinter Ira Davis told the Philadelphia Tribune in 2011. “He beat me in the 100. He still talks about it today.”

Hillel Sonfred Levinson was born Nov. 19, 1936, in Philadelphia and grew up in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. He was a mathematics whiz at Central as well as a track star and spent his final year at Perkiomen Preparatory School in Pennsburg.

He attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut, graduated from Temple in 1960, and earned a law degree at Villanova University. He married Marcia Robinson, and they had son Adam and daughter Jennifer. After a divorce, he married Caryl Lipson and welcomed her children, Robyn, Pam, and Dean, and grandchildren into the family.

He survived a life-threatening infection as a boy and rode out the 1944 Great Atlantic Hurricane with his mother and brother in Wildwood. He grew up riding horses at the Carpenter Lane Stables in Mount Airy and earned awards at the Devon Horse show.

“He was generally a quiet person who became engaging when he was with people,” his younger brother Joel said.

He served in the Army Reserves, earned his pilot’s license, was vice president of the Temple varsity club for alumni, and worked for the College Board. He was active with the National Olympic Committee of Israel and other Jewish organizations.

“He had a way with people to make them feel heard and special,” his family said in a tribute. “Regardless of his accomplishments, he always found his happiest times when the family was all together.”

In addition to his wife, children, brother, and former wife, Mr. Levinson is survived by three grandchildren, and other relatives.

A private memorial service was held earlier.