Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Bob Levy - Longtime Judicial Campaign Manager Has Died. By Geniusofdespair

Bob Levy with Raquel Regalado, and his longtime friend Gwen Margolis


Bob Levy was a lobbyist who did pro-bono work and was a judge king-maker. He died after a long battle with cancer.  He was a nice enough guy. He was instrumental in developing Miami Dade Days.

I did write a blog about him in 2006. My usual reality blog, a bit sharp on the guy. But I was sharper on Susan Fried - His long time adversary for judge business.  I was told that if a judge didn't hire one of them faithfully, the other would put an attractive female, Hispanic named lawyer against the other judge to knock out the established and respected jurists. Many of the attractive gals had no courtroom experience but they had that golden Hispanic name. Not exactly fair play, we lost good judges with these shenanigans.

Anyway everyone will be fighting over the front pew at his funeral as they are gushing all over Facebook that he was their BFF.

But no use rehashing the bad stuff...he was an okay guy. I said hello when I saw him. He was nice to Annette Eisenberg and that is no small feat. She scared the bejesus out of me when I lost my name tag.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

He was nice enough to do pro bono for some groups.

Anonymous said...

The Herald article names Steve Shiver as Homestead City Manager. That would be a dream come true for the good old boy network down there.... a freudian slip if I ever saw one. The fact that Steve Shiver is gushing about Levy tells me all I need to know.

Cindy Lerner said...

Bob Levy was a wonderful guy, for those who took the time and had the good fortune and opportunity to work with him in Tallahassee. In 2000 during my first term as a legislator, he brought me a bill to sponsor, he was doing a pro bono effort for South Dade nurses who wanted to get a state licensing category created to provide day care for young children with medically complex issues, PPEC, Pediatric Extended care programs. This was the one bill I was successful in passing based on the time and effort Bob spent to get it passed. It is known as Patches and is based in Homestead/ Florida City . He continued to be a champion for that program and I am sure he did that for so many other issues and programs, in a very quiet but effective way. He was a gentle soul, a wonderful mentor to many and will be missed. I hope that his memory and his legacy will be carried on by other legislators, and lobbyists in the future. We sure need more like him, who care about the underserved enough to do some good works.

HectorinMiami said...

True enough story that you couldn't talk about Bob Levy without referencing Dade Days, the Downtown Bay Forum and of course his patience with Ms. Eisenberg. The kind of lobbyist that puts money where their mouth is on civic participation is rare. Bob Levy will be missed in more ways than one.

Anonymous said...

RIP Bob. He was a great man and tried to see the good in everyone - even Steve "Shyster". That speaks volumes about Bob.