24 | JUNE 20 • 2024 
J
N

T

he Children’s Hospital 
of Michigan has paid 
tribute to longtime 
volunteer and Jewish 
community member John 
G. Levy, who passed away in 
2023 after 45 years of service.
His wife, Nancy Levy, 
says John worked hard and 
volunteered up until the 
end of his life. Now, the 
Children’s Hospital system is 
celebrating his unwavering 
commitment and devotion 
with a new endowment and 
an interactive exhibit named 
in his honor.
At press time, the John 
G. Levy Endowment for 
the Children’s Hospital of 
Michigan raised nearly 
$400,000 through donations. 
These donations will help 
fund Child Life activities 
at the Children’s Hospital 
of Michigan through the 
Children’s Foundation.
These critical services 
include procedural support 
(such as distracting children 
from potentially stressful 
procedures through age-
appropriate methods); 
environmental modification 
(like keeping medical 
equipment out of a child’s 
line of sight); and comfort 
strategies to help both 
kids and their families 
remain comfortable during 
procedures.
Studies show that these 

critical Child Life services 
result in cost savings for 
patients, including reduced 
length of stay, decreased 
sedation needs and better 
overall hospital experiences. 
The new endowment will 
help ensure funding for those 
services.
“That’s where his love was,” 
Nancy Levy says. “He just 
loved helping kids.”
John G. Levy, who also 

served as chairman of 
Detroit Medical Center for 
many years, was revered 
by both staff and fellow 
volunteers at the hospital 
systems. Still, you’d be hard-
pressed to find Levy’s name 
listed and acknowledged for 
his service, until now.
At his funeral, his close 
friend Mayor Mike Duggan 
said, “John is the greatest 
philanthropist you wouldn’t 

know existed because his 
name isn’t anywhere in the 
city.”
It was this sentiment, 
among others, that helped 
inspire the John G. Levy 
Endowment — and 
guaranteed that John’s name 
will live on in cherished 
memory.
However, it’s not just the 
endowment that will pay 
tribute to his decades of 
service.
The Children’s Hospital 
of Michigan also revealed 
a new interactive exhibit, 
the John G. Levy Interactive 
Donor Wall, which will greet 
patients and visitors in the 
main lobby.
With colorful designs and 
a fun, modernistic look, 
the large-scale interactive 
exhibit includes one of Levy’s 
favorite pastimes — boxes, 
which Nancy Levy says he 
loved to draw and doodle. 
Yet his biggest hobby was 
arguably his devotion to 
helping children.
“‘Children’s,’ as he called 
it, was truly his life,” 
Nancy Levy says. “John 
was committed to ensuring 
programs that support the 
well-being of the kids, their 
joy and getting the very 
best care with the most 
innovative treatments and 
equipment were always top 
of mind.” 
 

A new endowment and interactive exhibit have been 
created in memory of John G. Levy.

Longtime Philanthropist 
Honored at Children’s 
Hospital of Michigan

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

