Roberta Charis Levine Lovenheim

Roberta, Bobbi to friends, with her engaging, positive spirit intact, passed away unexpectedly Monday, June 29, 2026, at the Raleigh, NC home she shared with her daughter, one week shy of her 83rd birthday. She was in the company of her oldest daughter, Helene Lovenheim.

Born July 6, 1943, at her family’s home in New Rochelle, NY (in the commode during a July 4th party, as no one realized her mother was pregnant!), she was the daughter of the late Benjamin Levine and Geraldine Gordon Levine, both of whom Bobbi treasured and kept close to her heart her entire life, despite losing both very young. A lifelong music lover, Bobbi discovered and nourished her talent and interest in music at a very young age. Her family moved to South Fallsburg, NY, a resort town in the Catskill Mountains’ Borscht Belt. She grew up above the family hardware store, where she worked starting at age eight. Bobbi took up the flute and sought opportunities to participate in and perform at local resorts, as well as school performances.

Bobbi’s inherent tenacity, salesmanship, and nerve enabled opportunities for her. “If you think you can or if you think you can’t, you’re right!” was her motto in life. She once attended a concert by world-renowned flautist Julius Baker in NYC’s Washington Square Park, seeking him out afterward to ask him for lessons and admitting that she could not afford to pay. He was impressed enough to invite her to audition and ended up her teacher that summer.

This tenacity, talent and her stellar academic record, fed by a ravenous hunger to learn and her natural curiosity, earned her a full scholarship to Vassar College, where she studied under renowned flautist Claude Monteux and earned her Bachelor of Arts with an ambitious triple major in Music Performance, Music History and Music Theory, minoring in French and Microbiology (just in case music did not pan out), while also completing her elementary and secondary teaching certification requirements in all her spare time.

Graduating from Vassar in 1965, Bobbi faced another profound loss when her father passed away just four months before her wedding to her college sweetheart, David Lovenheim. She chose marriage and a shared life with David over a career in music performance. She moved to join David in Washington, DC, and began her career, teaching junior high school music, first at Herbert Hoover Junior High and then at Cabin John Junior High. Bobbi’s strong belief that access to a quality education was a right, and not a privilege, soon inspired her to broaden her impact beyond that of any individual classroom, with her 1970 appointment to serve as the Executive Director of the President’s National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children, overseeing the expenditure of several billion dollars in federal education program funding. While a new mom to her first-born Helene, her advocacy and leadership focused on ensuring that the educational, nutritional, and financial needs of disadvantaged students were met on a national scale. Notably, at the same time, she was listed on the deed to the family’s home in Arlington, VA as “et ux” - Latin for “and wife” - nameless other than her husband’s spouse, which was standard practice at the time. Her impact and achievements earned her honorary Texas citizenship and the key to the city of Dallas in 1974. By that time, her daughter Helene was three and daughter Greta was two.

After nine years leading the Council, with presidential appointments across three administrations (Nixon, Ford and Carter), Bobbi and David decided they wanted their daughters to grow up with loving grandparents and extended family in Rochester, NY. There, she launched and led her own company for many years, Regulatory and Legislative Consultants, Inc. focused on governmental relations, education policy and energy policy at the state and local level. She could talk passionately about low-level radioactive waste like no one else could! Bobbi also joined the Western New York Child Care Council, serving for several terms as Chair as well as Vice Chair, focused on enhancing and broadening access to childcare programs for children in nine western NY counties and served on the boards of the American Red Cross, Rochester School for the Deaf, Alternatives for Battered Women, among many others. She also helped support the Norman Howard School in Rochester and their curriculum for dyslexic students.

As she supported the Jewish religious education of both of her daughters, seeing them through their bat mitzvahs and later confirmations at Temple B’rith Kodesh, it bothered her that due to her Orthodox Jewish upbringing, she and other girls in her community had not been allowed a bat mitzvah in their era, though she had tutored some of the boys. Bobbi decided to rectify this in 1999, studying for and completing her own bat mitzvah as an adult. This was among her proudest moments, memories she often recalled with a typical Bobbi rebellious glimmer in her eye. She loved the learning involved, the “stick it to ‘em” punchline, and her sense of accomplishment.

Bobbi’s energy, engagement and impact were as deep as they were broad, regardless of geography. When David accepted a professional role requiring a move to Indianapolis, IN in 2004, Bobbi swiftly packed up the house and returned to her music teacher roots in Indy, giving private lessons and ultimately in the Indianapolis Public School system, on the front lines with at-risk K-6 students, inspiring them with music and her optimistic energy. She also founded the Greater Indianapolis Flute Club and served on the Board of the Indianapolis Children's Choir.

In addition to music and education, the inspiration and joy of Bobbi’s life was her family. First and foremost, she was a devoted, dedicated and creative mother to her daughters, Helene and Greta. Upon retirement from the Indianapolis Public Schools in 2017, Bobbi excitedly moved to join both of her daughters in the Carolinas, where she and Helene lived together in Raleigh (her version of “retirement” meant teaching individual music lessons to 30 students each week into her 80’s!). Bobbi adored her two sisters, Judith Feder (Lawrence) and Joan Mitchell (Arthur) and their families. She also cherished the memories and relationships with the “village” who raised her, her beloved parents Benjamin and Geraldine Levine, Grandmother Lena, her Aunt Bea and Uncle Murray Malman, and her stepmother Nettie Levine. She was proud and sentimental about the strong family foundation in South Fallsburg, NY, and even in later years often recalled stories about her Uncle Max, Grandma Lena, Grandpa Sam, Aunt Florrie and Uncle Paul, and so many others. Bobbi was the “hostess with the mostess”, relishing the company of her adopted-in-laws in Rochester (which she called “Lovenheim-land”) for holidays, pool parties and other family gatherings. Given the loss of her own parents at a young age, even post-divorce from David in 2008, Bobbi thought of her in-laws, Earl and Belle Lovenheim, David’s sisters and full extended family of cousins, aunts and uncles as her own.

She is survived by her daughters Helene Lovenheim and Greta Lovenheim; her nieces and nephews, Greg Feder (Emily), AmyBeth Feder, Grant Mitchell (Mary Ellen), Meredith Ganley (John); and her many cousins, Stuart Levine (Sara), Jane Malman, Gary Malman, Lindsay Malman, Joshua Malman, Oliver Malman, Eden Malman, Sharon Chibnick, Jeffrey Cohen (Jamie), Lola Cohen, Ethan Cohen, Lori Levine (Joe Ferris), Teddy Ferris, Bernie Ferris, and Sandra Levine Brunetto (Matt). Bobbi’s parents, sisters, brothers-in-law and aunts and uncles, all of whom she loved deeply, preceded her in death.

A celebration of life will be held at her daughter Greta’s home in Charlotte, NC on Saturday, August 8th for friends and family. In keeping with Bobbi’s specific wishes to be close to her sister Judy, she will be laid to rest in the DC area following her cremation, with a gathering there at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, for those wishing to send memorial gifts, please consider the Indianapolis Children's Choir: https://icchoir.org/capitalcampaign-donations/