Levi, Werner 1912-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born March 23, 1912, in Halberstadt, Germany; died of complications from Parkinson's disease February 6, 2005, in Honolulu, HI. A former professor of political science at the University of Hawaii, Levi was widely recognized as an authority on international politics. Growing up in Europe, he attended several universities in Germany and France before he completed two degrees in canon law and jurisprudence at the University of Fribourg in 1934. When the Nazis came to power, Levi fled to the United States, where he attended the University of Minnesota, earning a master's degree in 1943 and a Ph.D. in political science the following year. Remaining in Minneapolis, he accepted a teaching job at the university in 1944, rising to full professor in 1951. In 1963, he moved to Honolulu to join the University of Hawaii faculty; as a talented violinist, he also played for the Honolulu Symphony. Levi retired in 1976, but not before filing a lawsuit against the university for forcing him to leave because he had reached the age of sixty-five. Although he was awarded damages in the case, he ultimately had to quit teaching. Levi was widely recognized as an authority on such subjects as cold war policy and the politics of the Soviet Union, China, and Vietnam. He was the author of several books, including Fundamentals of World Organization (1950), Modern Chinese Foreign Policy (1953), The Challenge of World Politics in South and Southeast Asia (1968), Law and Politics in the International Society (1976), The Coming End of War (1981), and Contemporary International Law (1991).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Honolulu Advertiser, February 8, 2005.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN), March 26, 2005.