In Memoriam: Lester Levin
By Robert Nocco
Lester Levin sadly passed away in March 2024 at the age of 95. Les was a luminary of the industrial hygiene profession, impacting and mentoring many young professionals.
Les earned a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. in industrial hygiene from the Harvard School of Public Health. He joined AIHA in 1962 and became a Certified Industrial Hygienist in 1964. Later, he became a Certified Health Physicist.
Les was a research chemist early in his career. He eventually served for more than 20 years as the chief industrial hygienist, health physicist, and toxicologist at Mobil Oil Corp. He was also a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service Reserve and a consultant to industry, law firms, and government agencies.
Les entered academia in the 1970s, teaching industrial hygiene coursework at Temple University. Later, he moved to Drexel University where he started the master’s program in industrial hygiene and became its director within Drexel’s department of environmental engineering and science, a position he held until the early 1990s. While at Drexel, he also supervised PhD candidates, including AIHA Fellows Chris Komis, Mike Jayjock, and Tom Armstrong.
In the 1990s, Les moved back to Temple to teach graduate industrial hygiene courses as well as continuing education certification courses in asbestos abatement. He continued teaching at Temple until he was well into his 80s, encouraging many students to enter the field of environmental health.
Les shared some of his professional life lessons in his book, An Investigative Approach to Industrial Hygiene: Sleuth at Work, published in 1996. Additionally, in 1990 he published the chapter “Industrial Hygiene Considerations Other than Asbestos of Abatement Projects” in Asbestos: The Hazardous Fiber. During his career he published more than 15 articles in scientific journals.
In recognition of his significant contributions to the industrial hygiene profession, the AIHA Board of Directors granted Les honorary membership, one of the highest honors that the organization confers.
Komis and Jayjock fondly remember Les’ guidance and empathy, which extended beyond his role as a teacher. “Les was a wonderful mentor. He was deeply compassionate and incredibly supportive,” Jayjock said. “If it were not for Les, I almost certainly would not have gotten my PhD, ultimately giving me a life and career I have cherished. We stayed in contact with Les and [his wife] Ruth except for the last few years. In his later years, he continued to work as a volunteer to support immigrant families. His commitment to helping others was just part of who he was. The world could use a lot more Lester Levins.”
Robert Nocco, MS, DABT, CIH, CSP, RRPT, is chair of the Emergency Response Planning Guide Work Group, vice chair of AIHA’s Biosafety and Environmental Microbiology Committee, and a member of the Digital and AI Transformation Exchange Working Group.
This article was updated on March 25, 2025, to correct the date of Mr. Levin's death and his age at that time.
Resource
The Reporter: “Yardley’s own ‘Sherlock Holmes’” (July 2009).
