Friday, March 29, 2024 -
Print Edition

Mark Levey

Mark Levey

Mark Benjamin Levey, an innovative businessman and a dedicated volunteer, passed away April 11, 2021, in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Rabbi Jonathan Aaron officiated at the April 16 graveside service at Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

“Mark’s philosophy in business was the same as his guiding principles in life: ethics, mutual respect and integrity come first above everything else,” his family said.

Mr. Levey was born Jan. 25, 1929, in Chicago, Ill. to Ralph and Alyce Levey. At age two, his family moved to Los Angeles. He spent his adult life in Los Angeles and Rancho Mirage, but he and his wife Pearle Rae regularly visited Denver relatives.

After attending UCLA, Mr. Levey and his partner Norman Katz founded Normark and Associates, a small boutique food brokerage company, in 1951.

He built the business into the largest perishable food brokerage company in the country.

Mr. Levey, an active supporter of the City of Hope for over 20 years, belonged to the national board and was a founding member of the institution’s Food Industries Circle. City of Hope honored him with the Spirit of Life Award.

He supported the United Jewish Fund and Eisenhower Hospital.

Mr. Levey’s love of sports, which began when he was a batboy for the UCLA baseball team on which Jackie Robinson played, led to a lifelong passion for the UCLA Bruins and LA Dodgers.

His first wife, Pattie Specter Levey, the mother of his children, predeceased him.

He married Pearle Rae Kortz in 1998.

Mr. Levey received lifetime achievement awards from the International Dairy, Deli and Bakery Assn. and the Deli Council of Southern California.

Mark Levey is survived by his wife Pearle Rae Kortz Levey; son Alan (Deborah) Levey and daughter Nancy (Jeff) Cherry; sister Lila Rauch; sister-in-law Jackie Barton; grandchildren Matthew (Alex) and Jenny (Graeme), Jeremy, Justin (Ashlee) Xander; and great-grandson Jackson; and his Denver family, stepson Ken (Barbara) Laff, Lisa Laff, and grandchildren Laura, Emily, David, James and Izzie.

Mr. Levey’s stepson Alan Laff passed away in 2008.

Contributions in his memory may be sent to City of Hope Food Industries Circle, c/o Cheryl Kennick, 1500 E. Duarte Rd., Rivergrade Office 14-0413, Duarte, CA 91010.

Copyright © 2021 by the Intermountain Jewish News




Leave a Reply