Irving R. Levine

Irving Raskin Levine (August 26, 1922 – March 27, 2009) was an American journalist and longtime correspondent for NBC News. During his 45-year career, Levine reported from more than two dozen countries. He was the first American television correspondent to be accredited in the Soviet Union. He wrote three non-fiction books on life in the USSR, each of which became a bestseller.

Early life and education Born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Levine graduated from Brown University. During World War II, he served with the Army Signal Corps.

He was named bureau chief of Rome, where he served for nearly 12 years, also being stationed in Vienna and Tokyo. His reporting on Europe included accounts of the 1961 construction of the Berlin Wall by East Germany; the Vatican II Ecumenical Council, which opened in 1962; and the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the USSR. While Rome correspondent, he also reported on the reaction in Italy to the assassination of John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1963.

After retiring in 1995 from NBC, Levine became dean of Lynn University's School of International Communication in Boca Raton, Florida. He retired from there in 2004.

Marriage, family and death In 1957 Levine married Nancy Cartmell Jones, who had been working on the Dave Garroway Show. They had three children: Daniel, Jeffrey C. B. and Jennifer J. Levine.

Levine died in Washington, DC on March 27, 2009. He was 86. The cause was complications of prostate cancer, said his son Daniel Rome Levine.