Richard P. Leavitt

Mr. Leavitt was director of science information at the March of Dimes in White Plains, where he had worked since 1972. While at MOD, he contributed to the Encyclopedia Britannica entry on birth defects. He was a longtime volunteer and past board member of the Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps and volunteered for many years in White Plains Hospital’s emergency room. Mr. Leavitt was born July 8, 1944 in Boston to Donald and Christine Perry Leavitt. He graduated from Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Mass., and from Yale University with a degree in Russian studies in 1966. He was an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1966 to 1969, serving as education officer at the Naval Air Facility in Naples, Italy, where he enjoyed learning Italian, exploring the country and taking photographs. Returning to the United States in 1970, he wrote for education and hospital trade magazines for two years before joining MOD. Mr. Leavitt married Linda Carpenter in 1966 in Scarsdale. The couple divorced in 1998. He is survived by two daughters, Jennifer Leavitt Wipf of Bethel, Conn., and Alison Khalaf of Brooklyn; three grandchildren, Michael and Diana Wipf and Gavin Khalaf and a brother, Edmund Leavitt of Seattle.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, Feb. 4, at 3:30 p.m. at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church