Elizabeth Jane Levine

Elizabeth J. "Betty" Levine, 91, née Elizabeth Jane Billett, widow of noted Japanese labor relations expert, Solomon B. Levine, died on May 20, 2014, in Madison, Wisconsin of natural causes.

Born in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, Betty received her BS in chemistry from Pennsylvania State University in 1942, a certificate from the Harvard-Radcliffe Business Program in 1947, and her MA in industrial relations from the University of Illinois in 1965. She met Solomon ("Sol") Levine in 1943, while both were learning Japanese at the Navy Japanese Language School in Boulder, Colorado. They were married while still in the U.S. Navy during WWII.

Betty's professional career began as a Junior Chemist for the Food and Drug Administration from 1942 to 1945. During World War II, she also worked as a translator for military intelligence. After the war, she became the assistant director of the Harvard-Radcliffe Management Training Program from 1947 to 1948. From 1965 to 1969, she served as the Assistant Director of the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations at the University of Illinois. Betty then worked as the Assistant to the Chairman in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from September 1969 to July 1987 where she was the first non-faculty member to be tenured. At her retirement, a room was named in her honor. Betty was also a passionate activist during the Civil Rights movement, and a volunteer for the Democratic Party.

Interested parties may access a public collection of documents of Sol and Betty at the Univ. of Colorado at http://184.168.105.185/archivegrid/collection/data/492205876. Roger Dingman interviewed them for his book, Deciphering the Rising Sun: Navy and Marine Corps Codebreakers, Translators, and Interpreters in the Pacific War (Naval Institute Press2009).

Preceding her in death were her father Irving S. Billett, mother Bertha S. Billett, brother William Billett, and husband Solomon B. Levine.

She is survived by her four children author Jan Levine Thal, musician Samuel B. Levine, composer Michael A. Levine, and Judge Elliott M. Levine; and seven grandchildren, Jeremy Thal, Sean Levine, Sybil Levine, Mariana Barreto, Reed Levine, Joshua Levine, and Zoe Levine.

The family will plan a memorial service later in the summer. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Agrace Hospice or the Kathie Rasmussen Women's Theatre.