Levy ’66 Was a “Journalist’s Journalist”
Philip Levy ’66, a longtime TV news editor/producer in Boston and an affiliated faculty member at Emerson for nearly 20 years, died Saturday, November 25. He was 75.
“Phil was a journalist’s journalist,” said Associate Professor of Journalism Marsha Della Giustina, who worked with Levy at WCVB-TV Channel 5 and later hired him to teach at Emerson.
Levy transferred to Emerson from Boston University and was involved in WERS and WECB, the College’s radio stations.
After graduating from Emerson with a degree in Speech in 1966, Levy began working in TV newsrooms around Boston, eventually landing at WCVB-TV, where he spent more than 30 years of his career, according to his online obituary. It was at WCVB that Levy, then an assignment manager, met Della Giustina, who was working as the station’s first woman news producer.
Della Giustina called Levy “both a leader and a team player.”
“He ran the station’s news hub with great integrity, strong news judgment, and excellent precision,” she said. During Levy’s tenure at WCVB, the station became number one in the Boston market and won a number of awards, according to Della Giustina.
In 1978, Levy joined the faculty of Emerson College as an affiliated faculty member, brought on by Della Giustina, and taught until 1998. Levy brought the same “integrity and professionalism” he displayed in the newsroom to the classroom, she said.
“As an alumnus, he loved Emerson and worked very hard to teach his students to reach a bar of excellence,” Della Giustina said. “Many of them have stayed in touch with him after all these years.”
Levy also taught at Boston University.
According to his obituary, Levy leaves his wife, Jeanne (Culleton) Levy; a brother, Robert; a sister-in-law, Debbie Culleton; nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
Services were held Wednesday, November 29, in Natick, Massachusetts.
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