GPANDA MEMORIAL
 

As you know Andrew S. A. Levine, GPANDA, passed away at 2:20 PM today at the North Shore Hospice facility in Danvers, MA. He was in a truly lovely peaceful location with Beth and others at his side.

Most of us from the Asia Board knew him best as simply Gpanda. He was fun, informative, bright (just ask him), loveable and very generous with his time. He will be missed. When his obit is ready, I will reproduce it here for you to read.

A memorial fund has been set up in his honor. We would welcome your participation in this fund. Beth would like to honor him by making funds available in his name at the Moo Baan Alternative Education Community (School) near Kanchanaburi, Thailand. This is a place that spoke to Andy and Beth’s hearts when they visited there a couple of years ago. Hanuman has agreed to assist us with the funds from the Thai side.

If you would wish to honor Andy’s memory please direct your funds to:

The Andrew S.A. Levine Fund
% Robert Kimball
9 Ridgeway Avenue
Needham, MA 02492 USA

We are all saddened by what has transpired over the last year and ½, but Andy is now with the other stars in the sky and resting comfortably.

We encourage you to leave messages here, both reverent and irreverent (his preference) in Andy’s honor. At a later date, Beth and others will enjoy reading them.

We thank the Fodor’s senior editor for allowing us to post this memorial site here.

When Karen and I went to our first GTG in Cambridge many years ago, the main reason was to meet this weird guy I had been communicating with on both Fodors and on line. We were not disappointed---he was weird, but loveable we were to later learn. In fact over a few years we became really good friends. We are complete opposites--me conservative, him liberal....me dumb (as he never missed a chance to point out), and he self-proclaimed smart----me not into sports at all ever, and him a sports freak, both watching and participating--- him fit, me fat---- me from the "darkest Needham, him from the "center of the universe Cambridge, read commies--- but we were tied together by many interests: travel, food, conversation, loud voices, opinions and many more things...


we already miss him, but are better people for having known him.

Bon Voyage
some of our very best travel times were shared with Beth and Andy. we regret that this will no longer be possible.

i relished our sparing on fodors and in person and will miss that. now karen will get the brunt of it all.

beth remains our close friend and we hope to have her join us in future travels.

In addition to the great fun of reading gPanda's posts, I had the opportunity to meet Andy a number of times. His humor, his quick one liners, his friendly embrace, and love of life extend far beyond the human realm and will remain with me.

What a wonderful spirit he spread over the forum, making friends far and wide.

We will miss gpanda.

My deep and warmest sympathy to Beth.

I will toast to Andy tonight. Sleep well my friend. We'll carry on as you would want us to. No tears for Pandas, just virtual hugs.

As I sit here watching the Yankees and the Red Sox start a 3-game series in the Bronx, I cannot forget my friendly banter with Andy about which team would prevail. Andy was proud that he not only knew the players on his own team (the RS) but was also intimately familiar with the oppositions' stats. We had some great conversations, e-mails and posts. It was a memorable compliment to the stories we shared on our travels in SE Asia. For the record, I think I need to mention that I was never penalized for a late trip report, largely due to Gpanda's watchful eye.

Andy, we will miss you. RIP

It is hard to believe that such a larger than life spirit is no longer with us. Andy's zest for life was unparallelled and infectious. In his presence, you couldn't help feel it. I will miss his smile, his counsel, that mischievous twinkle in his eye, and the big bear hug he always had for me. A light surely went dark with his passing.

Enough of the reverent. For the irreverent I will repeat what I said in my email at learning of Andy's passing:

Peace be with you Andy. Give them hell in Heaven.

Levine, Andrew S.A., Esq., 58, of Cambridge, died on June 7, 2011, of brain cancer, which he faced with dignity and strength. He was the adored husband of Elizabeth Boyer, and the devoted stepfather of Seth and his wife Liz Pettie of Ann Arbor, MI. Andy grew up in Hartsdale, NY and Bethesda, MD, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Boston University School of Law. He worked for the IRS General Counsel’s Office in Washington, DC and Reno, NV. After moving to Boston, he was an attorney for the state Workers Compensation Trust Fund. Andy, a man who relished friendships and camaraderie among the attorneys,
judges, and staff in the workers compensation field, later joined
the law firm of Martin B. (“Buzz”) Schneider in Salem. The association
was a lucky fit, not only with Buzz but also with the firm’s colleagues, and his friend and assistant Christine Boutilier.




Andy was grateful to his sponsor and dear friend, John Higgins, Esq. and for his years in the12-step recovery fellowship, which gave him the opportunity to share hope with others, especially Barry, Eric, Frank, John C, John S, Richard, and Tom. He shared his lifelong passion for mystery fiction with his best friend Kate Mattes of Kate’s Mystery Books. Andy reviewed books for Kate’s Newsletter and married his wife Beth in Kate’s former store in North Cambridge. Andy also had a passion for "Texas Hold ‘Em" at which he excelled, both online and at tables. Always energetic, Andy played tough basketball and rugby, and later switched to triathlons in the “Clydesdale” group. In recent years, Andy loved traveling to Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia, a passion which led to a global community of friends for whom Andy posted as “GPanda” on the Fodors.com Asia forum. To friends like Karen and Bob Kimball, of Needham, MA, Andy was lovingly known as “The Panda.” Funny, smart, and outgoing, Andy made friends everywhere. During his tough illness, he was very thankful for his family and friends, who gave him support in countless ways and who will miss him very much.

Survived by sister Liz (Levine) and Lars Nassen of Ostersund, Sweden, and children Maria, Nessica, Andreas, and Phillip; brother Tim and Jennifer Levine of Sunnyvale, CA, and children Beatrice and Olivia; niece Serene and Sean Carney and children Collin and Riley. He was close to the extended family of aunt Penelope Kruse (Appel O’Meara), and to the daughter of late uncle Tobey Appel, Elizabeth and husband John Kaufhold, of Arlington, VA. He was the son of the late Robert E. Levine of Hollywood, FL and Patience Appel Levine of Bethesda, MD, and brother of the late Gregory Levine.

Interment will be in the Story Chapel at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA. No services will be held. Friends may donate by check to the “Andrew S.A. Levine Memorial f/b/o Moo Baan School, Thailand,” c/o Robert Kimball, 9 Ridgeway Avenue, Needham, MA 02492. This school is a charitable forest orphanage in Kanchanaburi, Thailand that Andy and Beth supported.


Beth kindly supplied this to me tonight so that i might share it with you before it appears in the Boston Globe on Thursday.

It is amazing that someone who I have never met can evoke tears when I read the heading of this post. Though we all have to eventually take this journey, it is really hard to deal with when there was so much living to do, places to see, and fun to be had with someone so young.

I loved what you had to say Bob, about your friendship, it is amazing to me that we can be good friends with people who we are so very different to in activites, political outlook and our views of various topics. This though is a great thing about this site, and to think of all the fun banter and cajoling (sp?) that you two engaged in, right here, and yet, you all had something good to impart to us all.

Very sorry to say farewell to GPanda, may we all meet up someday in the big Fodors in the sky where we can travel from continent to continent, and, beyond.

Condolences to Beth, do come back here when you are able.
Sad this evening. Am lighting my Thai Lemongrass Candle now and am thinking of his full life which was shared with us.
Sue

I am so sorry to hear this news. I reconnected with Andy and with Beth a few years ago at a Fodor's get together in Boston. We had all been in law school together back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and it was a pleasure to get to know Andy as the grownup he pretended to have become.

My thoughts are with Beth.

Goodbye Gpanda.

Thanks for posting the obituary. I hadn't realized he was only 58 - nor that he was a mystery fan. So much sympathy to all who will miss him.

The first time I met Andy in person was at the Towers Lounge at the ROS in Bangkok. We had bantered a lot here on Fodors, and recognized kindred spirits.

I loved Andy's wit. His posts would always make me smile - and sometimes laugh out loud. After Andy's cancer was diagnosed, we emailed more often, talking about day to day things like the antics of cats and the relentless Seattle rain, and, of course, travel to our favorite part of the world. We kept up an active correspondence until his second surgery, which took away enough of his vision that he was no longer able to email. While we talked on the phone a few times after his surgery, each conversation reminded me of his impending loss.

I miss Andy here on Fodors and I miss his poems in my email. Andy was a bright light extinguished too soon.

Andy and I are from the Peoples republic of Cambridge, as we loved to tease Bob.
As I wrote to Bob, If all the love and affection we have for Andy could have saved him, he would have lived forever,
instead, one less starr shines in the sky.

This is so sad, He will be missed.

I think I might have seen the 'dancing muscles' trick the first, or maybe the second, time I met Andy at a GTG in Boston. I recall being curious about this person whose banter with Bob caused me to type 'tsk tsk' any number of times. Then, I got to know the two of them, and discovered their great friendship.

Andy, you made me smile so many times. I hope you are still smiling as your spirit lives on in the hearts of your many fodors friends.

RIP

So glad I had the honor of meeting Andy and dear Beth at the LA GTG. Gpanda certainly kept things lively here on the Asia board.

“Andy made friend everywhere” certainly resonates with the farflung readership -- and postership -- of this site, including many, like me, who never had the pleasure to interact in RL.

Perhaps Fodor’s next forum should be “the undiscover’d country” with Gpanda as moderator. Ever the seeker, I'm sure Andy is up there entertaining his fellow travelers.

I knew Gpanda and his family only through this forum, and I feel fortunate to have done so. I believe that I am a better person for having known him in even that very small way. I offer my sincere thanks for the advice and laughter gpanda offered on this board and my heart-felt sympathies to those of you who shared his life.

Words cannot begin to express how I feel right now. Though it was not unexpected, his leaving is still like a punch to my gut.

I had laughed at many of GPanda's posts on this board before I met him at the Boston 2007 GTG. He was this huge, loud, irreverent guy who could tie cherry stems into a knot with his tongue. He was intensely curious about everything and everyone, and he was not the least bit embarrassed to have a picture of him in a Speedo passed out. He was like a ten-year-old boy in a man's body.

Over the last years, I later learned he could be equally interesting when serious, but at the time, his wit- especially when directed at Bob- was what kept us all laughing for two solid days. Fodor's was a better place because of him.

I'll really miss you, Andy. Aloha Oe

I have to correct that...I met him first at the <b>2006</b> GTG

Condolences to Beth and those near and dear to Andy. Happy Travels!