Man, 82, lost job; community hopped in to help
Pharmacist working again after serving generations
For decades on theNorth Shore, pharmacist Eddie Levin hasbeenhelping families in sickness and in health, with a personal touch and an extra-mile attitude that has endeared him to generations of residents.
So when Levin recently found himself separated from his job at age 82, and at risk of losing his house, the community whose care has been his life’s work decided to repay all the goodwill that he’s built over the years.
It would not be the first time the community has intervened to keep Levin employed.
For most of the past 25 years, Levin worked in the heart of Glencoe’s old-timey business district, at a location that has housed a pharmacy since 1916 and that Walgreens took over from Parkway Drugs in 2010. Levin ownedParkway for a few years in the 1970s, and he’d also run the nowdefunct Hubbard Woods Pharmacy in neighboring Winnetka for 26 years.
Over those years, public sentiment has made its mark.
Ten years ago, whenWalgreens planned to do away with the Parkway name and many of its employees, the planwasmetwith an outcry from the community, as the Chicago Tribune reported at the time. Hundreds of complaints and a threatened boycott saved not only the name — today it’s known as Parkway Drug, A Walgreens Pharmacy — but also the jobs of many who worked there, including Levin’s.
But by Levin’s own account, and that of his former supervisor at Parkway, he faced new professional challenges during the last 10 years.
After Walgreens took over, Levin’swork shifted to
compounding drugs. He was tucked away in a backroom, and customers saw him less.
But as Walgreens made changes to how it handled compounding, Levin was asked to become a staff pharmacist, according to Nancy Davis, his former manager at Parkway who is now retired. Despite Levin receiving intensive training by Walgreens, Davis said, the field is “completely different than 10 years ago,” something that Levin acknowledged as well. In August, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was let go, he and Davis said. Walgreens did not respond to requests for comment.
Without employment — and operating on the assumption thatno onewould want to hire an 82-year-old — Levin was sure he would have to sell his house in Glencoe, where he has lived for 50 years and raised his children.
Hewas going through his
basement to start cleaning out the house when a friend suggested the social media site Next Door as a place to sell items. After looking at the site — and at the urging of friends that he should at least try to find a new job — Levin decided to post a message titled “looking for employment” along with his qualificationsandphone number.
Within days, there were hundreds of responses. Somepeople suggested possible jobs or teaching; one told him to consult an attorney. But the majority spoke of his kindness and how he always went above and beyond. Others said they missed him at Parkway. One Highland Park resident reminded Levin that he was Levin’s delivery boy back in the day and said he and a friend were talking about him recently and that he is in the home care industry and would reach out for ideas.
“You have been nothing but wonderful to four gen
erations of our family,” one Glencoe residentwrote. Another posted that for 25 years, her family has “counted on you behind the counter and in return we receive humor, professionalism and confidence. Thank you!”
Yet another Glencoe residentwrote that she’sknown Levin for 51 years and that “it is not surprising that you are receiving all of these responses as you took such good care of both young and old. So now you see how much you are loved, appreciated and are aware of all the good you have done for so many people.”
Marilyn Zimmerman, a resident ofWinnetka for 40 years, told the Tribune that she underwent a liver transplant 16 years ago and that, of the one medication she takes that’s compounded, she “will only let (Levin) do it.”
“He is probably the kindest person on this earth,” she said. “He is all goodness. I give him a lot of credit.
Good old corporate America ate him up and spit him out.”
Jody Haas-Wolfson said that during the years her late mother, KayeHaas, was ill with cancer, she depended on Levin to know the interactions of her medications, which he would personally deliver when she could not get there.
“As a daughter, you couldn’t be more grateful,” Haas-Wolfson said. “He is a gentle soul and touched everybody.”
One person who read Levin’s post was Vlada Korol, another pharmacist who lives in Glencoe. In 2009, her newborn son was sick and needed a drug compounded. Her own pharmacy could not do it. But Levin did.
“I never forgot him,” she said. “Hewas so kind and so fast and didn’t hesitate to get it done.”
She remembered too the uproar when Walgreens planned in 2005 to let go of the staff.
“I remember signing the petition atStarbucks,” Korol said. “And I never write my title, but I made sure to sign my name and PharmD next to it so they would know another pharmacist signed it.”
Korol, 40, owns twoKedvon Pharmacy locations in Wheeling and Buffalo Grove, and said that after reading Levin’s job-seeking post, she could not wait to call him and offer him employment.
“He is a treasure,” Korol said. “What he knows younger pharmacists don’t know.”
Emily Steadman of Evanston grew up in Glencoe. In 2008 she was a pharmacystudent andworkedat Parkway for the summer. Shesaidhetaught her about compounding.
“Hewas great, caring and nice and knew every customer by name,” Steadman said.
Davis was the pharmacy manager at Parkway for 10 years and was brought in when Walgreens first acquiredParkway in 2010. She was notwarmly received.
“I was the face of evil,” Davis said. “Eddie put his arm around me and told everyone there to welcome me. I cannot express enough what that meant to me.”
Davis said she learned a lot from Levin, especially the importance of valuing community.
Levin recently started working at Kedvon Pharmacy with Korol and said it has been great. As for the outpouring of support, he didn’t think much could top the community response to saving his job in 2010, but this comes close.
“I can’t thank the people enough for all the years of support,” Levin said. “They made me feel like it’s more than I deserved. I made a living taking care of people — that’s what my parents taught me. And I’ve loved every minute of it.”