WID eNews: Remembering Naomi Levine
WID March eNews
March 31, 2021
In the March 2021 edition of Women in Development’s monthly newsletter, past WID presidents Poonam Prasad of Prasad Consulting and Research and Linda C. Hartley of H2Growth Strategies, generously shared their remembrances of Naomi B. Levine, a legendary leader in the fundraising field, as well as mentor, collaborator, and friend.
Poonam: Naomi was a pillar of the New York City philanthropic community for many decades, and the founder and former executive director of the Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising at New York University where I taught for 15 years, after being recommended as an instructor by Linda Hartley following a luncheon at WID! So often did we end up teaching courses, classes, and webinars together that Naomi once teased me that we seemed to be “going steady.” I cherish her thoughtful recommendation on LinkedIn and the little notes of encouragement she would write to me when she learned of projects I was involved in, often new initiatives we were putting together at WID.
Linda: Naomi was a friend and mentor for more than 40 years. I worked closely with her as a member of the NYU development staff in the 1980s. She wrote a recommendation that led to my earning an MBA. She took me to her power board breakfasts at the Regency. We organized the first Bobst Literary Awards gala in NY and the first gala in Palm Beach, honoring Walter Cronkite. We would joke then that the campaign goal was “a million dollars a week forever.” During my service as WID president in 1999 we honored Naomi with the Woman of Achievement Award.
Poonam: It was due to Naomi that we celebrated WID’s 25th anniversary in the spacious penthouse at NYU’s Kimmel Center, a building she helped make possible. She hosted and sponsored many other WID events at NYU venues and was always keen that the students in the program attend and learn from experienced fundraising professionals.
Click here to read the entire tribute in the latest WID newsletter.
The NYU Bronfman Center held an online memorial in honor of Mrs. Levine on Monday, January 25, 2021. You can view a recording of the memorial here. To read the obituary published in The New York Times, click here.