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A death in Rougemont

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Staff

FROM THE EDITOR

For most of his life, Mel Levine enjoyed success and acclaim. His career as a pediatrician and the breakthroughs in education embodied in the nonprofit he founded, All Kinds of Minds, were widely acclaimed. He would speak to packed houses of his belief that all children can learn. He had fame, financial success and the respect of his peers. He also had a past that over the last few years resurfaced in dark and ugly bits and pieces, as more and more allegations that he had behaved improperly with his young patients arose.

Though there was no court judgment against him, Levine did settle with some of his former patients. He voluntarily suspended his medical license in 2008 and agreed in a 2009 consent order to stop practicing medicine in any jurisdiction after several North Carolina patients took their case to the state medical board. He resigned from All Kinds of Minds as well, and today it’s website has almost no reference to him.

Two weeks ago, another set of allegations arose – this time in the form of a class action suit from 40 of his former patients in Boston. A day after it was announced, Levine left a suicide note for his wife, then walked into the woods on his farm near Rougemont and ended his life.

His thoughts through his final days as recorded in his diary show that he had contemplated ending his own life for a while. He also proclaimed his innocence, yet saw no way out other than the script he chose.

The long journey of determining guilt and innocence and sorting out the good Levine has done over the years from the crimes some of his former patients in Massachusetts and North Carolina allege is far from over.

The attorney representing the former patients says she will seek damages from Children’s Hospital in Boston as well as Levine’s estate. North Carolina patients will likely be involved as well, which could draw UNC into the matter.

The shocking death in Rougemont ended the torment in this tale for only one man and sealed off forever the full story for the rest of us. The truth may eventually rise to the surface, but it will be incomplete, and some questions will forever be left unanswered.

1 thought on “A death in Rougemont”

  1. Dr. Randall Neustaedter says:
    March 10, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    Mel Levine has been an inspiration to me as a pediatric specialist since I was trained by him beginning over 25 years ago. He was a brilliant physician and thinker with more original ideas about learning than anyone I have ever met.

    He will be sorely missed and his legacy for helping children will last forever.

    It is regrettable that he could not overcome the allegations against him and in the end they simply proved too much for him. That is tragic, whatever the truth in the situation.

    The world has lost one of the greatest pediatric specialists who has ever lived, but children will continue to benefit from his ideas for generations to come.

    Mel Levine has been a towering genius in the world of developmental pediatrics and educational specialists. His memory, however tarnished, will live on for generations as physicians and educators continue to pay tribute to him by continuing to help children using the tools he brought into the world.

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