throughout the world by Leo Pfeifferberg, a Holocaust survivor, to remind generations of Schindler’s effort. Pfeifferberg is the one who convinced Steven Speilberg to consider the movie about Schindler. Unfortunately, Pfeifferberg passed away before the lecture tours. Levin told the audience that he had gifted the copies to each of his four children, one to the Holocaust Museum and one to the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida. Because of his respect and admiration for the man, he presented one to Rev. Matthews. He also asked the crowd to support Southern Youth Sports Association. He noted all the college and professional athletes that have played ball on SYSA teams, including Doug Baldwin, Jr. with the Seattle Seahawks. “What we need to do is support this organization, and I'm going to do it. My firm is going to do it,” he said. When he finished his remarks, he received a standing ovation. Afterward, Levin was clearly pleased to receive the honor. He was surrounded by his family, law partners, and friends, including Mayor Ashton Hayward and his wife, An.
THE PRICE
Two days earlier, when he talked with Inweekly, Levin reflected on the price his family has paid for his legal career. “I've gotten a lot of great things that have happened from practicing law,” he said. “There's a lot of problems as a result of this, and that is I think the family suffered.” He explained, “I became a great lawyer, became very successful financially, took care of the children. Unfortunately, I was not much of a husband.” Marilyn Levin passed away in 2011. She had been suffering from early-stage dementia and died of cardiac arrest. Levin has made several donations in her honor. In 2013, he gave $1 million in memory of his recently-deceased wife to the LubavitchChabad Student and Community Center at the University of Florida. The Gulf Coast Kid’s House has the Marilyn Kapner Levin Center for Children’s Advocacy and Child Abuse Prevention. Sacred Heart’s Miracle Camp has a building in her honor. Those donations were made while she was alive. “She never went to either one,” said Levin. “I drove her by, but it just ... she just never wanted any of this.” He paused and stretched out his arms pointing to his corner offices filled with original Leroy Neiman art, awards, trophies and boxes of case files. “Anyhow, it's been pretty much my life,” he said. “It has been here in this office.” He briefly discussed the seizure and the stage four cancer, but he remained optimistic. Levin said, “I will say this, that the reaction of the community, if prayer is going to help, then I'm going to be cured.” {in} 414 1
FRED’S ASSOCIATES Fred Levin has been associated with several local, state and national figures since he joined his brother’s law firm in 1961. Inweekly asked him to describe a few of the more interesting ones:
Reubin Askew: Levin’s law partner; Gov-
ernor of Florida 1971-1979
Levin: “Probably the finest human being I've ever met. He was not the person you'd want as a law partner, because he would not generate a business. At the time that he was practicing law with my brother David and myself, we were basically doing divorce cases and criminal cases. If a divorce client came in, he would try and talk them back together instead of getting a fee. He wouldn't get a fee. He always, it's funny, was on me about my smoking and my gambling and my drinking. He was jus, a really, truly, good person morally, ethically, legally, and every other way you could think of.”
sacola, way more so than Reubin Askew. He brought more back to our community than Reubin ever did.”
last minute when he was forced to take Bush. Had he taken Jack, Jack would have been the next President of the United States, and would have been a two-term president. He was the kind of person that you would love. He was not a politician. Loved to have a drink with him, sit around and talk about anything. He was a man's man. He was everything, and he would have been a great, great president.
Roy Jones, Jr.: A boxer who won world ti-
tles in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions; silver medalist at the 1988 Olympics. Levin: “Roy Jones probably is the greatest pound-for-pound boxer of the 20th century but had the misfortune of having my brother, Stanley, as his manager. Actually, Stanley took care of him. He lived with Stanley for a couple of years. Stanley, I would say, had a ‘love affair’ with Roy. He convinced Roy, which was a terrible mistake, that Roy was not only the greatest pound-for-pound boxer in the world, but also that he was a brilliant business man and brilliant administrator, that he knew more about boxing than either Stanley or I, which was a terrible mistake, because it was not the case. Anybody who would get around him, the last person to talk to him, he would go along with. If he'd listened to me, today he would not be in the situation he's in. He pissed away all of his money in basketball and rap music, and things of that nature.”
Johnnie Cochran: Attorney famous
for getting the acquittal of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. Levin: “Johnnie was in the right place at the right time. He played the race card, but he was certainly not a racist. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time, so he became America's lawyer. He was not the great trial lawyer he was made out to be, but this happens. Great lawyers are made by great cases. If I'm that great civil trial lawyer, it's because I've gotten some great civil trial cases. In other words, if you handle a $100 Million case, and you get $35 Million, that is amazing, but they don't realize that you really screwed up. That's the same way with the O.J. Simpson case. Johnnie just happened to be in a case that was going to be won.”
W.D. Childers: Florida Senator 19702000; Escambia County Commissioner 20002002; Convicted of two charges of bribery and unlawful compensation. Levin: “W.D. was probably his own worst enemy. I honestly believe that everything he ever did was never going to benefit himself. It was to benefit others, and unfortunately, in many instances, it looked bad. As a result, he got caught up in something that to this day ... I can tell you this, I have no idea whether he was a crook or not. I feel this way, that had he let me represent him, I would have won the case, the Willie Junior case without a doubt— I'm as sure of that as I am sitting here right now. His family wanted him to use this big-time lawyer from South Florida. He was a great politician for Pen-
Jack Kemp: Former Buffalo Bills Quarterback; House of Representatives, 1983-1989; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 1989-1993.
Joe Scarborough: House of Representatives, 1995-2001; former Levin Papantonio law partner; host of “Morning Joe.”
Levin: “Should have been president of the United States. Brilliant, he had everything. Good-looking guy. His problem was that he had everything. He was a football star, gorgeous, brilliant, and very liberal. Way more liberal than anybody realized. Would have been a great, great president. In fact, Ronald Reagan wanted him as his vice president. This got pushed to the very
Levin: “Joe is a perfect example of a great politician who was not a rainmaker in the practice of law. He knew exactly what he wanted to do from the time he got here, and he's exactly where he wants to be. I say that the next thing you'll see from Joe is at some point, he will get back into politics, and he's building a name and a reputation for himself in that arena. “ {in} inweekly.net