William B. Levy II ’69

Noted neuroscientist Chip died March 29, 2024, in Earlysville, Va., of an aggressive metastatic cancer. 

Chip came to Princeton from University City, Mo., majored in psychology, and was a varsity swimmer. His fellow swimmers describe his work ethic as “second to none,” and this carried over to his academic life. He was a University Scholar and eventually gave up swimming to concentrate on his senior thesis.

In 1973, Chip earned a Ph.D. at the UC Irvine School of Biological Sciences, then was a research fellow in the Department of Psychology at Harvard. He dedicated the following 46 years of his life to research and teaching at the University of Virginia as a professor of neurosurgery. At his death, he was professor of neurological surgery at the University of Virginia Medical School.

Chip’s work left an indelible mark on the field of neuroscience. Colleagues describe him as intellectually honest, kind, and generous without any agenda beyond learning as much as he could about the brain. He worked up until the last day of his life. 

Chip’s wife, Nancy, died in 2010. He is survived by his brother, Thomas Charles Levy ’71, who noted that Chip’s legacy is the large number of students he mentored in his years at UVA, and the many professors and researchers around the world whose careers he helped launch.