Sharon and Alan Levy.
Alumnus Alan Levy was the first in his family to graduate in 1958 with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from The City College of New York. The free tuition at the time made pursuing a degree possible, and now he wants to pay it forward with a $100,000 gift to create The Alan and Sharon Levy Scholarship Fund.
The scholarships will support women and minority students in CCNY’s Division of Science and will be based on financial need. It will support all education-related expenses.
“I was able to obtain a B.S. from CCNY and a Ph.D. from Purdue University without incurring any debt,” said Levy. “I had a very interesting and rewarding career and consider myself extremely fortunate. I want to give back to CCNY and Purdue so that others can have similar opportunities.”
After obtaining his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Purdue in 1962, he worked at Central Research Laboratory of Allied Chemical where he did basic research in polymer chemistry, which resulted in multiple patents. He later joined Ethicon, Inc., the wound closure division of Johnson & Johnson, where he developed the Vicryl suture, which holds surgery wounds together and is the most widely used, FDA approved suture in the world.He eventually became the Vice President of Research and Development and a member of the management board of Ethicon where he was head of the Surgical Stapling Division of Ethicon. Later, he was given responsibility for Business Development for the Medical Device Sector of Johnson & Johnson.
In 1989 he became president of an early-stage interventional cardiology company located in Seattle, Washington. The company developed an alternative to balloon angioplasty to treat coronary artery disease.
In the 30 years he lived in Seattle, he was the CEO of five early-stage healthcare companies. One of the companies, Heartstream, developed the first Automatic External Defibrillator (AED), a device used to bring people back from almost certain death who have suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.
He is retired but teaches, writes and is still on the Board of Directors of 10 healthcare companies that address autoimmune disorders, anal fistulas, pain and improved diagnostics. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife of over 60 years and has two children and four grandchildren.
About the City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi (now Lightcast) puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. This year, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.