Louis “Lou” Leviticus, 84, a Holocaust survivor and longtime professor of agricultural engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, died Dec. 12.
Leviticus took a faculty position in agricultural engineering at UNL in 1975. Until his retirement in 1998, he served as director of the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory, housed on UNL’s East Campus. In retirement, Leviticus volunteered as a curator at the Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum.
Leviticus was also known for his autobiography, “Tales from the Milestone,” which chronicles his early life as a child in the Netherlands to his escape from the Nazis and personal story of how the Holocaust ripped apart his family.
In late 1942, the Leviticus family was hiding in Amsterdam when police came to the door. Lou, then 11, ran to the back of the house in terror then jumped off a third-floor veranda to escape. His parents were arrested and died in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
Leviticus spent much of the next three years on the run until he was taken in by Karel Brouwer, a young civil servant, and his wife Rita. The couple, who treated Lou as their own son, helped many Jews avoid arrest during the Nazi occupation.
After the war, Leviticus immigrated to Israel and earned an engineering degree at the Israel Institute of Technology. He served in the Israeli military during the 1967 and 1973 wars before coming to the United States in 1974 to earn a doctorate at Purdue University.
Leviticus is survived by his wife, Rose; daughters Melanie and Joanna; five grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.
Memorial services are 7 p.m. Dec. 22 at the South Street Temple, 2061 S. 20th St., and 2 p.m. Dec. 30 at the Grand Lodge at the Preserve, 4400 S. 80th St.
In lieu of gifts or flowers, donations may be made in the name of Lou Leviticus to the University of Nebraska Foundation.
