Marvin Seymour Levy was born in Brooklyn. He lived in Brooklyn throughout his adolescence attending Automotive High School graduating in 1943. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and became a machinist’s mate on a destroyer escort. His tour of duty ended when the war ended in September 1945.

Dad met my mother, Martha Wexler, at a dance in Brooklyn. They got engaged but my Grandma May wouldn’t let them marry until he turned 21. They married on March 2, 1947 in a blizzard. Dad was working as a watch repairman but my Grandpa Jack taught him the auto repair trade. Dad worked in Grandpa’s East New York auto shop with my mother’s two brothers. Dad banged out car dents with his brother-in-law Herman Wexler. Izzy Wexler painted the repaired cars. Both Herman and Dad started their own businesses, Dad’s shop previously belonged to a man named Norman. Norman’s Auto Collision at 365 Great Neck Road in Great Neck was a huge success. Dad bought the business and our house in Plainview – Blanche Street off South Oyster Bay Road – in the same year. He worked in his shop days and at Rice’s Auto shop at night so we could have furniture.

Dad was able to purchase the shop and property from Norman and often people called him Norman (Levy)!

Dad was a successful entrepreneur – owning his own shop, two cars and putting my brother and me through collge and my graduate school. I am grateful for their sacrifices. They afforded me a chance to attend great public schools, music schools and post graduate schools. Also, I learned tennis, golf and swimming at the country clubs – Four Seasons, Woodbury, and Brentwood Country Clubs which “allowed” Jews to join. After I went to college my parents enjoyed golfing at Tam O’Shanter Country Club in Old Westbury.

My parents were happily married until Mom died of metastisized lung cancer on April 24, 1979. I lived with Dad for almost a year – he sent me to computer programming school after mom died. I was still living in my parents’ house after my divorce from Ian L. Cartier. I lived with my father and daughter after my divorce and my mother’s death. Dad continued to help me until his death. He remarried Leslie on the same day as Prince Charles and Princess Diana. They moved from Plainview to Boca Raton and lived together until his death on March 27, 2011.