Member Spotlight: Marcia Levine

Some are born with a commitment to social change in their blood. Others are compelled by life-changing events. Still others find their calling through a patchwork of experiences, studies and observations; an “aggregational” calling, as long-time partner Marcia Levine puts it.

The latter is how Levine describes her road from Steel City to highly regarded community leader.

Lorain, Ohio was an enriching place to grow up — a seeming microcosm of the larger world. The steel and automotive industries had attracted people from more than 70 nationalities. And, over the years, Levine watched as the city went from boom to bust... as job losses and poverty racked a previously burgeoning city.

The struggles Levine witnessed instilled in her a deep desire to help people, eventually leading her to earn a master’s in social work from Case Western Reserve University. She spent the ensuing 35 years as a leader at Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland.

Despite the demands of her work, Levine found time to do more for her community, joining Corporate Accountability International’s first campaign centered around the Nestlé boycott.

“The organization’s philosophy around how to tackle huge problems was surprisingly different than what anyone else was doing,” said Levine.

“And they did what they said they’d do — that more than impressed me.” In the 1990s when Corporate Accountability International launched its campaign Challenging Big Tobacco, the mission of the organization became much more important to her.

As Levine’s son Marc recalled, his father was a chain smoker with an addiction he couldn’t beat. Loved ones pleaded with him to quit. So too did a thoracic surgeon. But, the addictive power of nicotine proved too strong. Both he, and Levine’s older brother, would lose their lives to tobacco.

During this time, Levine became increasingly involved in the organization. And she learned what was possible with a commitment to win, “When we began this work, I wouldn’t have bet a nickel that it was possible to impact the tobacco industry. Even after we helped secure the global tobacco treaty, I thought that we’d never get countries to sign on. That it now protects 85 percent of the world’s population is incredible.”

Now, eight years into “retirement” (Levine sits on the board of directors of Cleveland Social Venture Partners and several other organizations), Levine is focused on the family foundation, Ostara. The foundation is a means to work with her children and grandchildren, all who owe their “aggregational” calling to social change in large part to a dedicated mother and grandmother.