An ardent reader and supporter of fiscal management, Henry F. Levin partially lost his sight six years ago, but he refused to let that stop him from enjoying literature or doing community work in Prospect Heights.
An accountant who started a firm with a partner, Mr. Levin, 89, continued crunching numbers well after his retirement at 70, serving as a Palwaukee Airport commissioner, a Library Board trustee and on the board of the Rob Roy Condominium Association.
Legally blind as the result of a progressive eye disorder, Mr. Levin found a machine that enlarged print six years ago, when it became nearly impossible to read.
“My father didn’t let some of his physical problems affect his ability to contribute,” said his daughter, Gayle Lipsig. “When he lost his eyesight, he found all sorts of services. He did not let his disability stop him from living,” she said.
Mr. Levin died after a long illness Saturday, Jan. 10, in Glenbrook Hospital, Glenview.
A Palwaukee commissioner between 1987 and 2002, he was part of an eight-member commission that “put us on a path of self-sufficiency that is very rare for an airport,” said Dennis Rouleau, the airport’s manager. “Under his leadership, the airport won several financial accounting awards from the government.”
Elected to the library’s board of trustees in 1987, Mr. Levin helped oversee a 1991-92 expansion that more than doubled the building’s size, to 26,000 square feet.
“He was always adamant that the library’s finances be in a healthy state,” said William McCully, executive director of the Prospect Heights Public Library District.
Born in Copenhagen and raised in Chicago, Mr. Levin graduated from Austin High School in 1932. He worked during the day and took accounting classes at Northwestern University in Chicago at night.
From 1942 to 1945 he served in the Army, performing inventory and accounting duties at bases in Kansas and Texas. He married his wife, Fran, in 1943.
After his discharge, he returned to school, becoming a certified public accountant in 1949. He worked for an accounting firm in downtown Chicago for several years before starting Levin & Lande with Hobart Lande in the mid-1950s.
He retired about 30 years later, not long after his company merged with another. In addition to his talent with numbers and his willingness to invest time in his community, Mr. Levin had a flair for connecting with people.
“My dad within minutes could talk to anybody,” his son Richard said. “He would always find something in common.”
In addition to his wife, daughter and son, Mr. Levin is survived by another son, Larry. A service was held Saturday.
