Barney
touched so many lives, world-wide, and with each individual they came away a
better person.Barney
touched so many lives, world-wide, and with each individual they came away a
better person.Barney Levenspiel of Seattle, formerly of Corvallis, died Friday, July 11 due to complications from a kidney transplant. He was 47.
Barney was born in Lewisburg, PA on August 18, 1955 to Octave and Mary Jo Levenspiel. He attended primary schools in Evanston, Illinois and Cambridge, England. His family moved to Corvallis, Oregon in 1969 where he graduated from Corvallis High School in 1972. Barney attended Grinnell College, Wasada University in Tokyo and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Carlton College in 1976. He graduated in International Relations with a focus on Asian Studies. He studied at the UN in Geneva and at the EEC in Brussels and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
After college Barney studied and traveled in Europe and Asia. In 1982 he moved to Japan and began his career with the International Exchange Program, Labo. In 1987 he became the US coordinator for Labo and moved to Seattle. It was at that time that his kidneys failed and he was on dialysis for 14 years until a recent kidney transplant in January 2003.
Barney was always interested in the cultures and histories of people from around the world. He traveled extensively and was fluent in several languages. He was an avid and eclectic reader, an accomplished musician, a political activist, a superb gourmet cook and a creative gardener. Above all he was blessed with loving and devoted friends who were the joy of his life.
Barney is survived by his parents, his brother, Morris Levenspiel in Portland, his sister Rebecca Levien and her husband Keith, in Corvallis and his three nephews, Kyle, Cody and Quincy Levien, whom he dearly loved.