Bernard T. Levin

Bernard T. Levin Columbia MD Bernard “Bernie” T. Levin, an attorney who co-owned the Burn Brae Dinner Theatre in Burtonsville, MD, for 18 years and worked into his late 80s, died Nov. 23 of pulmonary fibrosis. He was 87. Mr. Levin was running his own law practice in Washington, D.C., when a client gave him a pair of tickets to a show at Burn Brae in 1968. It was the first such establishment in the Washington metropolitan area, newly opened that year. “I said, ‘What’s a dinner theater?’” he recalled in 2015. “One thing led to another, and by December, I was a half-owner.” He bought out a partner and co-ran the dinner theater until 1986 with John E. Kinnamon. Mr. Kinnamon handled the artistic side and Mr. Levin handled the business end. “We hit it off, and we stayed together 18 years on a handshake,” Mr. Levin said in 2015. Together, they put on dozens of popular Broadway productions, from “Man of La Mancha” to “Annie.” Their “1776,” which began its run in 1975, continued for a year and a half, believed to be a record for U.S. dinner theaters. One of those shows was on the actual Bicentennial. “When those bells rang and those men signed the Declaration and the audience knew it was 200 years to the day, it was moving, very moving,” Mr. Levin said in a 2008 Washington Post interview. Mr. Levin, born in York, Pennsylvania and was a son of the late Irving and Ruth L. (Trattner) Levin and graduated from American University in Washington in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. In 1952, he earned his law degree from the Washington College of Law, now part of American University. He served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955 at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. Mr. Levin, always quick to find the humor in life, said later that his assignment in the medical corps was an interesting choice by the Army, given that he was both a trained attorney at that point and couldn’t stand the sight of blood. He formed his law firm in 1956 and ran it for 12 years before jumping to Burn Brae. After leaving the theater, he returned to his first field, working for 26 years at the law firm of Joel L. Katz in Annapolis, Maryland. He retired in the spring of 2015 at age 86. Mr. Levin was married for 50 years to the former Dorothy I. LaHue, who died in 2013. A first marriage to the former Coralle J. Spiegel ended in divorce in 1960. Mr. Levin is survived by his son, Michael A. Levin of Strafford, Pennsylvania; his daughter, Pamela Levin Cameron of Farmington, Connecticut; his stepdaughter, Jeanne L. Smith of Columbia, Maryland; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. In addition to his wife, he was predeceased by a grandson, Matthew S. Costa. Graveside services will be held at 11:00 AM Friday November 27, 2015 at South Hill Hebrew Cemetery, 2101 Old Baltimore Pike in York, with Rabbi Ron Muroff, officiating. The family is receiving friends from noon to 9:00 PM on Wednesday at Mr. Levin’s home, 9077 Flamepool Way, Columbia, MD. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation, memo line: Matthew Costa Memorial Scholarship, 310 S. Boulevard, Richmond Va. 23220 or to Gilchrist Hospice Care, 5537 Twin Knolls Rd., Suite 433, Columbia MD 21045. The Geiple Funeral Home, Inc. 53 Main Street, Glen Rock is in charge of the arrangements. Condolences may be shared at geiple.com