Robert Aland Levin

Robert grew up with roots that stretched back four generations in Birmingham. He attended Mountain Brook Elementary and Junior High School and Indian Springs School. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an economics degree from the Wharton School. He was Abbot of the Friars Senior Society, a member of Kite and Key Society, and president of his fraternity, Phi Epsilon Pi. Although he came from a family of merchants, Robert wanted to help people and chose to become a doctor. He earned his medical degree at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, where he was honored to be a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He served as chief resident of Pediatrics at Emory University in Atlanta where met Faye Cohen, who has been his devoted wife for 47 years.

Robert returned to Birmingham and founded Alabama Pediatrics in 1981. He built his practice on a foundation of compassion for his patients and their families. He kept the direct patient relationships of a small practice even after the office grew over 42 years. In retirement nothing delighted him more than running into former patients, and he continued to serve as the pediatrician at his granddaughters’ camp in Maine each summer.

In addition, he served as president of the Jefferson County Medical Society, and for ten years was on television with a weekly health segment on WBRC Channel 6's noon news.

Robert enriched his life by being the Voice of the University of Alabama Million Dollar Band which he did for 36 seasons. Announcing the games was always a thrill for him and gave him such pride and pleasure.

Robert and his sister, Susan, were raised by Louise and Jack Levin in a lively, loving home. It was from them that he developed his love of Birmingham and the Jewish community. He was president of Temple Emanu-El and deeply involved with the synagogue.

Robert remembered everything. He wove people, places, conversations and the details of events from decades past into stories and jokes that always entertained anyone fortunate enough to be in his company. Robert’s voice could carry across a stadium of hundred thousand people and or just delight the people near him.

Going to baseball games was a family tradition. Starting at the age of 18, Robert began attending almost every World Series with his father and would later bring his sons. In 1981, Robert and his father purchased a stake in the Birmingham Barons helping to bring baseball back to Birmingham at Rickwood Field. Baseball and football were passions that allowed him to give back and be connected to his community. He was also the stadium announcer for the SEC Baseball Tournament for over 20 years.

Above all, Robert had a gift for making and maintaining connections with others. He was outgoing, generous, and knew how to time a joke. He made everyone around him feel appreciated and important. He kept up with people from every stage of his life: classmates, colleagues, patients, and fellow sports fans. He was the friend who could be counted on to show up anytime he was needed, and his loyalty to those he held dear never wavered. For all his accomplishments, his greatest pride and joy were his family. He was devoted to his wife and to being a father to his sons and their families. Some of his happiest memories were weekends at Lake Martin, a place that Faye’s parents, Oscar and Marion Cohen, had introduced him to.

He is survived by his wife Faye; his sons, Gary (Rachel), Andrew (Alix), and Matthew; and his five grandchildren Hannah, Emma, Madeline, Olivia and Jack as well as his sister, Susan Levin Schlechter, and her children, Dr. Alan Schlechter (Carlyn) and Annie Schlechter (Russell). He was preceded in death by his parents, Jack and Louise Levin.

A funeral service will be held on October 19th at 11:30am at Temple Emanu-El. The service will be live streamed at www.ourtemple.org/webcast.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Faye & Robert Levin Family Fund of the Grafman Endowment Fund for Temple Emanu-El, Collat Jewish Family Services, or a charitable organization of your choice.

Robert was a pillar of the Birmingham community and will be dearly missed. May his memory be a blessing.