In an October 14 ceremony, the Administration Building, newly bisected by an open-air pathway leading from Ellis Avenue to the quads, was rededicated in honor of the University’s first provost and eighth president (see For the Record). It was the latest tribute in a recent span during which Edward Levi, U-High’28, PhB’32, JD’35, and his legacy—as legal scholar, University leader, and US attorney general—have been much remembered. Last September, six University provosts gathered on campus to mark the 50th anniversary of Levi’s appointment to the office he defined. The University of Chicago Press published a collection of Levi’s speeches as attorney general, Restoring Justice, this May, and in September reissued his classic text An Introduction to Legal Reasoning.

Wendy Klein, AB’75, offers a personal portrait, revealing the human dimensions of a towering figure. As an undergraduate during Levi’s tenure as president, she stole some moments from her studies to sketch, from photos, the man who would inspire her career as a lawyer. Here, she tells the rest of the story.

In 1971, Edward Levi was the president of the University. I was a first-year student in the College. Academic studies were all-consuming, and I had very little free time. During that free time, I relaxed by sketching. Over the course of several months in 1971, I drew three portraits of Edward Levi.

I did not know at the time that Mr. Levi had a practice of inviting first-year students to breakfast. During the spring of 1972, I received an invitation to one of those breakfasts. I took the three portraits I had drawn to the breakfast and hoped I would have the chutzpah to show them to Mr. Levi.

Only one other student and I attended the breakfast that sunny spring morning. The other invited students did not attend, probably because of a student strike protesting the war in Southeast Asia. 
At the breakfast, there was a long table with a number of intimidating professors and only two very silent students. I recall that Professor Marvin Zonis was present.

During the breakfast, I did not have the courage to display the drawings. After the breakfast was over and as Mr. Levi was walking away, I approached him and displayed the drawings to him. He seemed embarrassed and said something about papering the bathroom walls with the drawings, which I interpreted as self-deprecating humor.

Mr. Levi’s assistant, Jonathan Kleinbard, assured me that Mr. Levi actually liked the drawings and asked me if he could get them framed for the Levis. I agreed to give up the drawings, but I requested photocopies, which Mr. Kleinbard provided. One of the drawings is reproduced here. 
Several weeks after the breakfast, an envelope from the Office of the President arrived in my Woodward Court dormitory mailbox. Edward Levi’s witty thank-you letter speaks for itself and is reproduced here for all to read.