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Alan Levy, Prague Post editor-in-chief, dies at 72
By Mark Nessmith
Managing Editor, The Prague Post
(April 2, 2004)
Alan Levy, founding editor-in-chief of The Prague Post, passed away peacefully this morning, April 2, 2004, after a brief and courageous battle with cancer. He was 72 years old.
His weekly column, "Prague Profile," provided in-depth, personal looks at the people who made an impact on the nation, from cultural and political leaders, to colorful characters from all walks of life, both Czech and foreign. It was consistently among the most-read features in The Prague Post and appeared in the newspaper 549 times. In the first issue, on Oct. 1, 1991, he wrote, "We are living in the Left Bank of the '90s. For some of us, Prague is Second Chance City; for others a new frontier where anything goes, everything goes, and, often enough, nothing works. Yesterday is long gone, today is nebulous, and who knows about tomorrow, but, somewhere with! in each of us, we all know that we are living in a historic place at a historic time."
Levy first came to Prague as a journalist in 1967. He covered the blossoming of Prague Spring, the 1968 reform movement. Later that year, he reported on the Warsaw Pact invasion. He chronicled the events of 1968 in a book published in the United States in 1972 as "Rowboat to Prague." It was re-published in 1980 as "So Many Heroes." In 1975 the book was translated into Czech by Josef and Zdena Skvoreckys' 68 Publishers Toronto and smuggled into Czechoslovakia by visiting emigres, where it became an underground "samizdat" classic. It was subsequently translated into numerous languages.
Czechoslovakia's communist authorities expelled Levy and his family in 1971. They settled in Vienna. Levy lived there until returning to Prague in 1990. While in Austria he worked as a correspondent for international publications including the International Herald Tribune, Life, Good Housekeep! ing, the New York Times Magazine and Cosmopolitan.
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| Alan Levy (front right) sitting next to President and Publisher Lisa Frankenberg (center), announcing the Oct. 1, 1991, launch of The Prague Post. |
In 1991, he was hired by the owners of The Prague Post as editor-in-chief to help launch the newspaper. Levy continued to contribute to the Post in his roles as editor and columnist until his death.
"Alan loved Prague with all his heart and he loved The Prague Post. It's difficult to believe that someone as indefatigable as Alan could be taken from us so quickly," said Prague Post President and Publisher Lisa L. Frankenberg. "His contributions to the Czech community and his passionate commitment to his craft will continue to enrich and inspire us."
His 1993 book "The Wiesenthal File" told the story of acclaimed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. It was on the Best of the Year lists for the Good Books Guide and The Observer and ear! ned Levy the Author of the Year award from the American Society of Journalists & Authors.
Levy was born in New York City Feb. 10, 1932. He studied journalism at Brown and Columbia universities and won The New Republic's Young Writer Award in 1957 and 1963. Levy worked seven years as a reporter in Kentucky for the Louisville Courier-Journal and spent another seven years writing in New York before moving to Prague.
Throughout his career as a journalist he interviewed former Czech President Vaclav Havel, Fidel Castro, the Beatles, Sophia Loren, Ezra Pound, Vladimir Nabokov, Graham Greene and W.H. Auden.
Levy is survived by his wife, Valerie, daughters Erika and Monica, and two granddaughters.
Readers are encouraged to post their memories of Alan using the comment button below.
Mark Nessmith can be
reached at mnessmith@praguepost.com