Bidding Farewell to Founding CBST Member and Board President Michael E. Levine z"l

נָֽפְלָה֙ עֲטֶ֣רֶת רֹאשֵׁ֔נוּ
The crown has fallen from our head. (Lamentations 5:16)

The CBST community and loved ones of CBST founding member, Past President, and Stonewall veteran Michael Elliot Levine z”l, came together on Thursday, February 27 for his funeral.

Michael died in the Philippines surrounded by his family early this morning, February 25 / 27 Shvat at age 81. Michael was buried there.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency covered Michael’s funeral and his life in this article, saying:

Levine, who bore witness to the Stonewall riots — a series of demonstrations following a police raid at a downtown gay bar in 1969, an event that galvanized the gay rights movement — was an urban planner who helped transform Soho into the residential neighborhood that it is today.

Friends and family speaking at his memorial service Thursday morning — which was simulcast from Beit Simchat Torah in Midtown and from Santa Maria, the Philippines, where he and his husband moved last summer to be with extended family — recalled his fondness for ocean cruises and gambling. In fact, Levine would regularly organize blackjack games at his Greenwich Village apartment after Friday night services at Beit Simchat Torah, where he became a member in 1974.