Levin, Edward (8/22/2013)

Dear Friends of Ed,

I am sorry to bring you very sad news - Ed Levin passed away suddenly on August 22nd.  Ed's death was completely unexpected, and presumed to be caused by a pulmonary embolism, a probable complication from an otherwise uneventful recovery from hip replacement surgery. He had just had his 6 week followup visit with his surgeon. As he left the hospital he felt mild pain and numbness in his leg and returned immediately to the emergency room, then collapsed suddenly as he was walking up and down the hall, being evaluated for his gait. He was clearly in the best possible place to be saved, but unfortunately it was not possible. 

I have enclosed Ed's obituary and directions to his memorial service, which will take place on September 7th in New Hampshire. The service will consist of comments from family, friends, and colleagues. If you wish to speak, please contact Ken Rower (kenrower@myfairpoint.net), who is organizing the program. Also, Ed's daughter Cora commented  that " a room full of timber framers in suits doesn't feel very Ed-like to me", so if you come, please consider wearing suspenders :-)

I have tried to identify names in Ed's list of contacts who were not professional colleagues in the Timber Framers Guild to include in this message. If you think of others who should know about Ed's passing (for example, other members of the Wooden Shoe, whose addresses I don't have), please forward this information to them.

Ed was the kindest man I ever knew. I was so lucky have him as my husband, and to raise our children together.

Sincerely,
Nancy

And from the Timber Framer's Guild:

It was with much sadness and regret that I’d learned the news this past weekend of the sudden loss of Ed Levin. Ed was a timber framing luminary; one of a small number of folks responsible for the revival of timber framing as both a traditional craft and commercial trade, back in the 1970s.

I can’t say I really knew Ed personally, although I’d met him at a past TTRAG symposium. But I’ve read a great many of his articles, and I’m familiar with his myriad contributions to timber framing, as they’re covered in many of my timber framing books and journals.

In an email released by the Timber Framers Guild on Saturday, Ken Rower described Ed as “a careful craftsman, lay engineer, exacting frame designer, principal founder of the Guild, and early adopter of CAD”, and as having introduced his colleagues to the esoterica of early timber framing, including “…the medieval roots of western timber frame design, compound roof joinery, and French scribe layout methods”.

He went on to say how after retirement from active framing, Ed became “…a timber framer’s timber framer, for twenty years, solving countless design and joinery questions for other craftsmen.”

Clearly, Ed with be sorely missed. Ken’s email stated that a full tribute is being planned for the October issue of Scantlings, the Timber Framers Guild newsletter.