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


Quote from Ed:


Edward Metzner Levin
March 17, 1947 --- August 22, 2013

“We call ourselves timber framers, but at bottom our success is measured and our legacy made as placemakers. Does the work we do leave the world a more beautiful and functional place? When you open the door to the space and step in for the first time, is there a small involuntary intake of breath? Does it make you smile?”

Ed Levin, June 25, 2011
Solstice Sojourn

Edward Levin, aged 66, died unexpectedly in Philadelphia on August 22, 2013. He was born March 17, 1947 in Boston, graduated from Newton South (MA) High School and in 1969 obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and art history from Dartmouth College, where he was active in Students for a Democratic Society and an energetic protester against the Vietnam War. He loved New England and chose to settle in New Hampshire following graduation, joining the Wooden Shoe Commune in Canaan, N. H., where he discovered timber framing and built his first structure, a barn. With his first wife, Anita Walling, Ed later settled in Canaan, where his adored daughter Cora Levin was born in 1979, and where he built a small octagonal house and a timber framing workshop. An early commission came from his neighbor and fellow Dartmouth graduate, the blacksmith Dimitri Gerakaris, for whom he built a house and the smithy roof, the latter employing plausibly the first hammer-­‐beam trusses in the American timber framing revival Ed’s timber framing work eventually grew to become Paradigm Builders, a group of five craftsmen and designers in a limited production workshop.

In 1991, Ed left Canaan and timber framing production, moving to Hanover, NH, where he continued to design timber frames and married Nancy Speck, a scientist at Dartmouth Medical School. Together they raised Nancy’s two daughters, Maren and Caroline, as well as Cora and their own son, Nate, born in 1994. In 2008, Ed left his beloved New Hampshire to move to Philadelphia so that Nancy could accept a faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania. He became a well-­‐known and well-­‐loved local figure in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood, where he walked his two Bernese Mountain dogs daily.

At first under his own name and then as principal of Paradigm Builders, he constructed or contributed to the design of numerous beautiful structures that grace the New England landscape, including in New Hampshire the Dartmouth Skiway Lodge, the Proctor Academy Wilkens Meeting House, the Green Woodlands Barn House, and, a family favorite, the shelter pavilion in Cardigan Mountain State Park. Ed also contributed his designs and engineering experience to many partner projects of the Timber Framers Guild, a group that he was instrumental in founding in 1985, including Habitat for Humanity’s Hanover, Pennsylvania houses (1989), the Speed River Bridge in Guelph, Ontario (1991), the American trébuchet for the NOVA production “Medieval Siege” in Scotland (1998), the Kicking Horse River Bridge in Golden, British Columbia (2001) and, most recently, the Gwozdziec Synagogue roof replica in Poland (2011). Ed was an eloquent and prolific writer for Timber Framing, journal of the Timber Framers Guild, and also published in Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding magazines. His most frequent outlets for writing, however, were long and beautifully composed e-­‐mail messages to friends, colleagues and family.

Ed is survived by his beloved wife, Nancy Speck; daughters Cora Rose Walling Levin, Maren Elizabeth (Speck) Cotes and Caroline Lindegaard Speck; son Jonathan Stanley (Nate) Levin; and brothers Jeffrey and Andrew Levin. He is predeceased by his parents Stanley and Betty Lee Levin, and his close childhood friend Jonathan Mann. A memorial service will celebrate Ed’s life on September 7, 2013, 2:00 pm,at the Green Woodlands Barn House in NH ( http://www.greenwoodlands.com/home.html ). In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Timber Framers Guild to establish a lectureship in Ed’s honor ( http://www.tfguild.org ).

ED LEVIN MEMORIAL SERVICE
SEPTEMBER 7, 2013
2:00 PM
GREEN WOODLANDS BARN HOUSE, DORCHESTER, N.H.


From Boston or Manchester:

Head north on I-93
Take Exit 26 toward Plymouth
Merge onto NH 3A/S (Tenney Mt. Hwy), go 4.0 mi
At traffic circle, take 1st exit onto NH 25 W (Mt. Moosilauke Hwy), go 7.5 mi
Turn left onto NH 118 S, go 2.3 mi
Turn right onto Hearse House Rd, go 1 mi to end
Turn right onto Bickford Woods Rd, go 1.3 mi to end
Turn left onto North Dorchester Rd, go 2.4 mi
Turn right about 1000 yards past Thayer Rd at the Green Woodlands sign. Follow Green Woodlands signs on internal roads for about 4 mi to Barn House on Cummins Pond.


From Canaan, N. H. (US Route 4):

1. Head north on NH 118 into Dorchester
2. Left on North Dorchester Road, go about 3+ miles (don’t turn on Cummins Pond
Road)
3. Left at large Green Woodlands sign with red metal gate
4. If you pass Thayer Road, turn around (entrance is 1000 yards south of Thayer Rd)
5. Follow signs on internal Green Woodlands Roads approximately 4 mi to Barn House


From Lyme, N. H. (NH 10):

1. Head north on NH 10 through Lyme village and bear right onto Dorchester Rd at
Lyme Congregational Church at end of rectangular common (if coming south, fork
left off main road at back of church and turn left at end of carriage sheds)
2. Proceed on Dorchester Rd for 3 mi and take left at dirt continuation of
Dorchester Rd (if you see the Dartmouth Skiway turn around — you missed the dirt
continuation of Dorchester Rd)
3. Proceed 4.5 mi past Reservoir Pond until you see a large Road Closed sign
4. High-clearance vehicles—trucks or SUVs, not cars—can make the next mile, slowly
and carefully, to Barn House (or you can walk the last mile)

Telephone at Barn House 603-795-2718.