Fred Levin passed yesterday. I didn’t rush to post something about his death because I had to deal with my emotions of a Pensacola without a man who had been an icon for this community for over half a century.
For the past four years, we had lunch – grilled wings – at O’Riley’s Irish Pub Downtown on Saturdays until the COVID pandemic struck. The core group was Fred, Troy Rafferty, Lumon May and me, but others would drop by. Â We argued, teased and laughed. If someone mentioned the name “Ashton Hayward,” they had to cough up a dollar.
I will write about this more in the Jan. 21 issue.
In January 2016, I interviewed Fred after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Â He later autographed the cover that’s on display in my office.
You can read it – here.
After we published the article, Fred was my guest on Pensacola Speaks.
“I’ve always known you were a great writer,” he said with a laugh. “The only thing is I’m wondering if you’re doing that because you thought I won’t be around long.”
He continued, “We’ve had our ups and downs over different things, but I’ve always respected you. We go, like I say, we go way, way, way back. Anyhow, I loved the article.”