Obituaries

KATZ, Karen, Of Beverly, MA, on May 4, 2014. Cherished and beloved daughter of Gloria (Zalcman). Loving sister of Fonda Lecuona of FL. Beloved niece of Jean and Harvey Karp and Jack Zalcman. Services will be private. Remembrances may be made to Angell Memorial Hospital, Boston, MA. Karen was a beautiful and spiritual girl who died too soon. She will be missed by all.

Hyalie (Cohen) Miller, age 84, died Friday, May 9, 2014, in West Hyannisport, MA.

Her husband, Leonard S. Miller, died in 2003. She leaves two daughters, Nancy Greenberg of Worcester and Donna Miller of West Hyannisport, with whom she lived, and two grandsons, Joshua and Max Greenberg.

She was born in Worcester and lived in West Hyannisport for 25 years.

Funeral services  at 11:00 am, Monday, May 12, 2014, at Temple Emanuel Sinai, 280 May St., Worcester. Burial at B’Nai Brith Cemetery, Worcester.

Memorial Observance will be held through Monday evening at the residence of Nancy Greenberg, 255 May St., Worcester and Tuesday and Wednesday at Hyalie’s residence, 98 Seventh Ave., West Hyannisport, MA.

Lawrence Levy served the Kennedy administration.

Amid the Cold War boom in defense contracts and frenzied research into aeronautics and space travel, Lawrence Levy launched Concord-based Allied Research Associates Inc. when he was a 28-year-old instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The company mushroomed from three men in 1951 to more than 225 employees worldwide in eight years, catapulting Mr. Levy to the forefront of national defense designs, diplomacy circles, and later, solar energy development.
The Kennedy administration sent him to live in Paris and advise Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on Europe and North Africa. He was also named defense minister to Thomas K. Finletter, the US ambassador to NATO.

At cocktail parties in those days, Mr. Levy was known as a handsome, charming raconteur who loved to tell a good joke, but never spoke much about his work because most of it was classified, according to his family.

Mr. Levy, whose company was later acquired by Boeing Corp., died of pneumonia May 7 in Massachusetts General Hospital. He was 90 and had lived in Framingham.

“He always said he wanted to live to be 100 and get shot by a jealous husband,” said his oldest daughter, Madelyn Renee, an opera singer who lives in Milan.

The line captured Mr. Levy’s joie de vivre during a lifetime spanning his service in World War II as a flight engineer in what was then Burma to work in his 80s as a management consultant for a firm he started called Northern Ventures Corp. in Cambridge.
After his death, his family began uncovering surprising details of his career from boxes of personal papers and yellowed newspaper clips tucked away at his home.

In a 1959 article from the Boston Sunday Herald, Mr. Levy offered prescient remarks about the future of space travel. “Lunar Landing in less than 10 years, Newton scientist forecasts,” the headline read.

“Who knows what we’ll discover — new metals; perhaps a new source of energy, heating and lighting homes and factories for a small cost; things to make life on Earth better,” Mr. Levy told the paper. “And when man arrives on the moon, it’ll be a stepping stone to other planets.”

Through his papers, his family also learned about his work on secret postwar nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands. From 1949 to 1951, Mr. Levy was a project director working on a military program created to determine the effects of atomic blasts on planes delivering the bombs.

His papers also revealed he managed research programs for NATO in computers, electronics, and operations and helped formulate Raytheon’s sale of Hawk missiles to Saudi Arabia in the 1960s as a vice president of the company.

Meanwhile, his Allied Research briefly became a subsidiary of the Boeing Corp. at the end of 1950s. Then in 1965, Mr. Levy made news when he was rehired by his old company and named president. He formed a British affiliate called Allied Systems and found success selling the aircraft known as the Harrier, a vertical take-off attack jet, to the Marines.

By the late 1970s, Mr. Levy shifted his focus from war machines to solar energy. He became president of Northern Energy Corp. with its Solar Energy Center, one of four regional centers created by the US Department of Energy to promote solar applications.

“Larry could pick up the phone and speak to any congressman, any senator on the Hill at that time,” recalled Joanne Luongo, who began as a secretary for Northern Energy 37 years ago and climbed the ranks. She was still working with Mr. Levy at Northern Ventures when he died.

“He was my teacher, my mentor, my best friend, and a gentleman at all times,” she said.

Mr. Levy always wore a suit and tie, and liked to work at “warp speed” each day, Luongo recalled, “but he didn’t stand over you with a bat. He was always pleasant. In 37 years that man never raised his voice to me, never. He gave you credit for having a mind. He was a teacher in his own inimitable way.”

A New York City native, Mr. Levy was the oldest child of Anna and Albert Levy, who was an accountant.

A bright student, he graduated from high school at 15, and received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from New York University. He was in ROTC in college and joined the Army Air Force during World War II, serving as a lieutenant.

After the war, he went to MIT under the GI Bill and graduated with a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering in 1948.

His marriage to Jacqueline Friedman ended in divorce. They had three daughters.

Mr. Levy was married for 43 years to Ruthe McClenon.

In addition to his wife and daughter, he leaves two other daughters, Janice of Ithaca, N.Y.; and Sharon Loeff of Scottsdale, Ariz.; a grandson; and two granddaughters.

A service was held and burial was in Sharon Memorial Park.

Mr. Levy held a pilot’s license for most of his life and was a lifelong lover of photography. Among his cameras was a Rolleicord he bought in China that had once belonged to a Japanese general, he told his family.

His daughter Janice, who is a professor of photography and cinema at Ithaca College, said she has begun sifting through his negatives dating back to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in the 1930s.

As young girls, Mr. Levy’s daughters sometimes became annoyed at his ever-present camera, Janice said. Now she can see the artistry he brought to those snapshots.

“I realized, once I became a photographer, there was a real vision there,” she said. “He was very charismatic and fun.”

J.M. Lawrence can be reached at jmlawrence@me.com.

WORCESTER – Leah (Rafer) Witkes, 88, of 39 Ellis Drive, died  Thursday, May 8,2014 at St. Vincent Hospital. She leaves her husband of 60 years, Irving Witkes; two sons, Howard Witkes and his wife Alice of Boston and Neil Witkes and his wife Ann of Gladwyn, PA; a brother, Gerson Rafer and his wife Maris of Cape Cod, two sisters, Beverly, wife of Milton Rothstein of Framingham and  Naomi Caplin of West Palm Beach, FL, and four grandchildren, Samantha, Jason, Alex and Michael Witkes. She was predeceased by her sisters, Ruth Siegel and Sylvia Young.

She was born in Fitchburg and was a daughter of Arthur and Dora (Solomon) Rafer. she lived in Worcester for 60 years. She was a member of Beth Israel Synagogue and The Jewish Healthcare Center.

FUNERAL SERVICES  AT 3:00PM ON FRIDAY, MAY 9,2014, AT BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE, JAMESBURY DRIVE.  Burial at B’Nai Brith Cemetery.

Memorial observance  on Friday afternoon and 2-6 pm on Sunday, May 11, at her residence,  39 Ellis Drive.

Memorial contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s Association or  Jewish Healthcare Center, 629 Salisbury St., Worcester, MA 01609.

Kenneth David Schneid, age 51, of Medway, MA,passed away surrounded by his loving family, on May 6, 2014. Devoted and Beloved husband of Paula (Poillucci) Schneid. Loving son of Carol Sparber and the late Morton Schneid. Loving brother of Mark Schneid and his wife Susan, and Dana Simmons. Dear son in law of Catherine (Antonellis) and Lewis Poillucci. Cherished uncle of Austin and Zachary Simmons, Michael and Corey Schneid, Nicole, Brittany and Alysa Poillucci, Ross and Jordan Cooperstein. Dear great uncle of Anthony Joseph Poillucci. Kenny was an extraordinary man who was taken from us much too soon. He loved and lived life to the fullest. We will honor Kenny with a celebration of his life on Saturday, May 10, 2014,from 1-4pm, at 29 Sudbury Restaurant, 29 Hudson Rd., Sudbury, MA. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Boston Strong, New York Tough Fundraiser, c/o The Greg Hill Foundation, PO Box103, Hopkinton, MA 01748.www.sharingcounts.com/events/231-boston-strong-new-york-tough

Melvin Fox, 91, of 770 Salisbury St., died on Wednesday, May 7,2014, at his residence after a long illness.He leaves his wife of 67 years, Rosalyn (Pulda) Fox; two sons, Alan Fox and his wife Lynne, of Westboro; Richard Fox and his wife Dr. Ann Merritt, of Worcester; a daughter, Renee, wife of Marshall Gould, of Northboro; five grandchildren, Eric Gould and his wife Crystal of Boylston, Marni, wife of Joshua Payne of Newton, Dr. Rachel Grace, wife of Daniel Grace of Wellesley, Daniel Fox of Cambridge, and Dr. Adam Fox of Atlanta; five great-grandchildren, Brady Pane, Dilan Payne, William Grace, Peter Grace and Zia Mei Gould. He was predeceased by his two brothers, Arnold Fox and Daniel Fox.

Mel was an entrepreneur who loved the challenge of business. He owned and operated Quality Seafoods and Worcester Quality Foods, both of Worcester, Mr. G’s Fashions in Randolph, A & G Electronics of Worcester, was a principal in Fair Furniture in Auburn and was also involved in several restaurants.

He was born in Chelsea and was a son of Meyer and Ida (Cohen) Fox. He lived in Worcester for 67 years.During WWII he served in the Army Airforce in Guam and in Okinawa.He attended Northeastern University before going into the Army Airforce.

He was a member of Congregation B’Nai Shalom of Westboro, formerly a longtime member of Beth Israel Synagogue, The President’s Club of The Jewish Healthcare Center, Yeshiva Achei Timimim, Level Lodge of Masons, and formerly was a member of Mount Pleasant Country Club in Boylston.

FUNERAL SERVICES  AT 12:00 NOON ON FRIDAY, MAY 9,2014 AT BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE,  JAMESBURY DRIVE,  WORCESTER.  Burial will be at Holy Society Cemetery, Leicester.

Memorial Observance will be held Friday afternoon May 9th at Beth Israel Synagogue, and at the residence of Marshall and Renee Gould,  41 West St., Westboro, 7- 9pm on Saturday, May 10 and 1- 4pm on Sunday, May 11.

Memorial contributions may be made to Jewish Home Hospice, 629 Salisbury St., Worcester, MA 01609 or  Congregation B’Nai Shalom, 117 East Main St., Westboro,MA 01581.

Bosinoff – Roberta Cynthia (Blake) of Woburn, MA, formerly of Lexington , on May 7, 2014.   A Lexington librarian for many years and a talented artist/quilter, Roberta was a tireless and loving caregiver and wife to her late husband Irving Bosinoff. She was the dear and beloved mother of Philip Bosinoff and his wife Debra Griffin of Ashland, Ellen Saltonstall and her husband Stephen Saltonstall of Sandgate, VT.  Beloved grandmother of Shannon Ennis of West Pawlet, VT and Jason Bosinoff of San Fransisco, CA. Great grandmotherof Courtney Ennis of West Pawlet.  Roberta was a caring, gentle and kind woman who was greatly loved by all her family and friends. In her memory, gifts may be made to the charity of one’s choice.  Graveside service this Sunday, May 11, 2014, 11 a.m. at Westview Cemetery, Lexington, MA.  A memorial observance will follow at her residence: Brightview Country Club Heights, Woburn, MA until 3 p.m

Wiesenfeld-Dorothy A. (Paul), of Chestnut Hill, on May 7, 2014. Beloved wife of the late Abraham Wiesenfeld. Devoted mother of Joseph Wiesenfeld of Holliston. Dear grandmother of Mollie Talmanson and her husband Michael, and Amy Wiesenfeld. Great- grandmother of Ella Talmanson. Loving sister of the late Caroline Nemser, Ruth Savel, Bertha March and Sylvia Solar. Graveside services at Sharon Memorial Park, Sharon, on Friday, May 9,2014 at 10:45 am. Memorial observance at the home of Mollie and Michael Talmanson, Friday until 5 pm, Saturday 7-9 pm, and Sunday 2-5 & 7-9 pm. Remembrances may be made to a charity of your choice.

of Sherborn, died on May 4. He is survived by his wife Judy; his children John and wife Diane, Billy and wife Shaun, Mary and husband John Liddicoat; and 10 grandchildren. One grandchild, Sam, predeceased him. Services at Temple Beth Elohim, 10 Bethel Rd., Wellesley, Friday, May 9, 2014 at 2:00 pm. Contributions in Hugh’s memory may be made to the Sam Cohn Fund, c/o fidelitycharitable.org or the Alzheimer’s Foundation.

Arlyn Baker Schneider, age 67, daughter of Muriel Glass Baker and the late Max Baker, died May 4, 2014.   She is survived by her loving husband, Arthur, her adored daughters, Rachel Schneider Simms, Maryssa Schneider McLean and her husband Timothy, and her precious son, Daniel Jacob Schneider. She leaves two treasured grandsons, Joshua and Zachary. Services are private. Memorial observances will be at the Schneider residence on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 8-10, 2014 from 4:30-9:00 pm.Tributes in her memory may be made to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, c/o  Dr. Yolanda Colson Research Fund, Office of Development, 116 Huntington Ave.,5^th floor, Boston,MA 02116, Boston Gay Men’s Chorus,95 Berkeley St., Suite 410, Boston, MA 02116, or American Jewish World Service, 45 West 36th St., New York, NY 10018.