Meet Alvin de Levie
Alvin de Levie is a proud Penn Stater and member of the Board of Trustees. When his parents escaped the Holocaust in 1940 and moved to the US, they found a home in State College and both worked at Penn State. Alvin grew up on McCormick Avenue, doors away from where Joe Paterno was renting a room from Coach O’Hora. Alvin’s childhood was spent as a bat boy for Coach Medlar’s baseball team and playing youth soccer for Coach Jeffries. After graduating from State College High School, there was no question where Alvin would go to college.
While a student at Penn State, Alvin published the first all-inclusive scholarship guide for Penn State students after noticing the unmet need amongst his friends. He was a member of the Undergraduate Student Government and chairman of a USG Academic Affairs Committee. He was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Skull & Bones, and Omicron Delta Kappa honor societies as well as a member of AEPi fraternity. During Alvin’s senior year, he participated in the first-ever THON. Alvin graduated from Penn State in 1973. Three years later, he graduated from Villanova Law School and went on to found the Law Offices of Alvin de Levie and Associates, with locations in State College and Philadelphia. Alvin has mentored Penn State students since he graduated and is a supporter of the Paterno Family Run and THON.
Alvin was elected to the Board of Trustees in July 2021. He is Chairman of the Committee on Legal and Compliance, and serves as a member of the Executive Committee, the Committee on Audit and Risk, and the Committee on Outreach, Development and Community Relations. Alvin lives in State College and can often be found in the HUB asking students for feedback or cheering on the Nittany Lions at all different events.
Alvin & Penn State
Alvin’s parents, Dagobert and Elsie de Levie, escaped the Holocaust in 1940 and moved to the US, where Alvin’s father served in the US Army. After he was discharged in 1946, Dagobert taught at the Penn State Pottsville Campus. The couple then moved to State College where Dagobert began his Penn State career as an instructor in English Literature and German. He eventually became the first Chairman of the Liberal Arts Study Abroad Committee, the first Director of the Penn State Study Abroad Program, and the Founder and Director of the Foreign Studies Programs. Elsie worked in the Language Labs in the basement of Sparks Building. The Dagobert and Elsie de Levie Study Abroad Fund was created in 2023 to help students who cannot afford to study in a foreign country.
Every day, Alvin walks by the chair the university gave his father when he retired and is reminded of the livelihood and community Penn State gave to him and his family. To him, serving on the Board of Trustees is a way to say thank you and to help future generations of Penn Staters receive the same opportunities he did.
Alvin on Campus
For Alvin, serving Penn State goes beyond being a member of the Board. Alvin has mentored students since he graduated from Penn State, most recently doing so through the Blue White Society Quick Connect Program. He also mentors student-athletes at the request of their coaches. Alvin joins members of the Centre County Chapter of the Alumni Association every spring to meet with newly accepted, yet undecided students and their families to answer questions on what a Penn State education is like. He routinely volunteers with the Lion’s Pantry, the Centre County YMCA, and joins Sue Paterno to deliver food to students and members of the community who are food insecure. Alvin is also a proponent of Greek Life at Penn State. He has worked to honor the Divine Nine and supports the IFC, Panhellenic Council, and the LFAA (Lion Fraternity Alumni Association).