The Donald and Rachel Levy Music Fund was created in 2023 by Dena Levy P ’24, former Harley Board Chair and parent of Izzy Goldstein ’24, and her brother, Marc Levy, in memory of their parents, who passed away within four months of one another. The fund reflects their parents’ deep love of music and education and builds upon their legacy of giving. In her father’s final days, Dena learned that her parents had recently established three endowment funds to support institutions that had shaped their lives.
Rachel Levy GP ’24, a graduate of UMass Amherst, directed support to the university’s math department to fund scholarships. Donald Levy GP ’24, who attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, created an endowment in the engineering department to support graduate students. And together, they established a fund at Hancher Auditorium, a performing arts center at the University of Iowa, to help expand access to programming for people in rural communities—ensuring that music and the arts could reach beyond traditional boundaries.
Inspired by their parents’ generosity, Dena and her brother decided to honor their parents by supporting something deeply meaningful in their own lives: the communities that had shaped their families. For Dena, her husband Mark Goldstein P ’24, and Izzy, that community was The Harley School.
Izzy was deeply involved in band and orchestra during her time at Harley (she played the double bass and percussion!), and music played a central role in her experience. To honor that, the family first made a significant gift to upgrade Harley’s string room, partnering with Kelly Stevenson P ’34 (Music, 2013-present) to improve the space with new lockers, cello and bass stands, and essential equipment that would benefit generations of students.
In addition, they endowed an additional gift to support Harley’s orchestra and band teachers. Rather than funding a scholarship for a single student, the family wanted to empower teachers to create meaningful, shared experiences for all students—opportunities like attending live performances, inviting guest musicians to Harley to teach master classes, or exposing students to the broader musical world.
These experiences mattered deeply to Dena and her brother. Growing up in a college town, they had access to concerts, visiting artists, and enriching musical opportunities that shaped their own path. Their parents understood that kind of exposure could be transformative. They had also supported Izzy’s education directly, paying for half of her tuition at Harley. Dena’s father reflected that it was “the best thing we ever did,” recognizing how Harley nurtured Izzy’s ability to conduct, compose, and fully explore her musical talents.
Music and education were woven into the fabric of the Levy family. Rachel Levy was a piano player. Dena played the bassoon. Izzy’s uncle Marc played tuba and continues to work in the music field. Donald Levy spent 13 years as a professor of electrical engineering before working at Ford Aerospace and Lockheed Martin. Rachel later served as an administrator in Stanford University’s engineering department. Learning, creativity, and curiosity were constants and the arts were never seen as separate from education, but essential to it.
