Levi, Edward H(irsch) (1911-2000)

US attorney general and university president. Considered a brilliant antitrust lawyer, he became dean of the University of Chicago Law School (1950-62), university provost (1962-67), and president (1967-75). He was one of the first scholars of the Jewish faith to be chosen head of a major US university. In the aftermath of the Watergate scandals, he was persuaded to help restore Americans' respect for government by serving as the US attorney general (1975-77).

Levi was born in Chicago, Illinois. Considered a ‘product of the University of Chicago’, he was the grandson of Rabbi Emil G Hirsch, one of the school's early faculty members. He began his career teaching at Chicago (1936) and later returned (1945) after serving as special assistant to the US attorney general. He was an adviser to the so-called ‘Chicago school’ of physicists and assisted in the drafting of the US Atomic Energy Act (1946), leading to establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission. He was the author of many books and articles.