For 22 years on Woodward Street in Newton Highlands, Dan Levinson was the kind of neighbor who tucked the Boston Globe sports section inside your screen door on Sunday mornings.
Levinson, a longtime English and history teacher at Thayer Academy in Braintree, died Jan. 3 at age 76 from complications of a sudden and aggressive cancer. Seven months later, his next-door neighbor Andrew Szanton published a tribute in Fig City News on Aug. 3, painting a portrait of a man whose quiet generosity held a neighborhood together.
"In the rush of life, good neighbors are easily taken for granted," Szanton wrote. "… Our relationship with Dan was quiet, steady, and understated. He died suddenly, and my sense of loss is more than I expected."
Szanton, a professional memoir collaborator whose subjects have included former U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke and former Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn, moved to Woodward Street with his wife Barbara in 2004. The Levinsons were already there. Cindy Levinson came out to say hello on moving day. Dan, Szanton recalled, was friendly but a little more reserved.
Sidewalk conversations and literary evenings
The friendship built slowly over two decades of small acts: shoveling each other's walks, sharing news of life's small victories and defeats, debating what was wrong with the Red Sox on the sidewalk. Levinson played pickleball at the Windsor Club and invited Szanton to join his regular game.
At a literary evening Szanton hosted at his home, Levinson asked to read aloud a piece he had written about Rosa Luxemburg, the revolutionary thinker. That night, Szanton learned his neighbor had written entire plays and had them performed at Thayer Academy.
Over dinner in the Szantons' back garden after Cindy's death in 2021, the conversation ranged from the collapse of Gary, Indiana's steel industry to whether someone can create art without intending to. Levinson quoted a native of Bali: "We have no art. We do everything as well as we can."
41 years in the classroom
Levinson devoted 41 years to Thayer Academy, where he chaired both the English and history departments. Beyond the classroom, he advised the school paper and magazine, coached baseball, and wrote and directed student plays. According to his obituary, he maintained close contact with many students decades after they graduated.
Born in Indianapolis on March 24, 1949, and raised in Gary, Indiana, Levinson studied journalism at Northwestern University and earned a master's in philosophy from The New School. He married Cindy in 1973, and they raised two children, Richard and Emily, in Newton.
He retired in 2018 when Cindy suffered a brain hemorrhage, caring for her until her death three years later.
A walnut tree and a last email
One anecdote from Szanton's tribute captures Levinson's tact. A walnut tree in the Szantons' backyard had for years dropped rotten walnuts on Levinson's driveway and cars. When the tree was finally removed, Szanton checked in with his neighbor. Levinson's reply was characteristically gracious: he said they wouldn't miss the clean-ups but hoped no birds had lost a favorite perch.
In mid-December 2025, Levinson's son Rich stopped by the Szantons' home looking stricken with news of a tough medical diagnosis. On Dec. 27, Levinson emailed Szanton from home after a stay at Newton Wellesley Hospital. It was his last message to his neighbor: "I'm home! Should have plenty of coverage. Thanks for everything."
A memorial service was held Jan. 18 at Temple Emanuel in Newton. Donations in Levinson's memory may be made through the Pan-Mass Challenge to benefit the Jared Branfman Sunflowers for Life Fund for Pediatric Brain and Spinal Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
