Bay Area Council Mourns Passing of Jim Levine
The Bay Area Council family is mourning the passing of Jim Levine, a widely admired father, husband, friend, entrepreneur, and creative problem solver who over the course of a more than 40-year career literally reshaped the San Francisco Bay shoreline. Jim served on the Council’s Executive Committee for many years, co-chaired our Water & Climate Resilience Committee and was an instrumental leader in the launch of the Council’s Public Safety Committee.
Jim took a comprehensive view of solving California’s water supply challenges and advocated for finding common ground between environmental, urban, and agricultural water users to do big things. He envisioned a “grand bargain” water strategy to tie new conveyance and storage projects with enhanced rights and protections for environmental water. Though never formally adopted, elements of this vision have since been enacted, adopted or proposed from the highest levels of the Newsom Administration state government, including legislation to expedite Sites Reservoir and the Delta Conveyance Project, and for the state to develop specific water supply objectives.
For over 15 years, Jim co-chaired the Bay Area Council’s Water and Climate Resilience Committee, championing initiatives to address critical water resource challenges. Under Jim’s leadership (and that of his co-chairs), the Council’s Water & Climate Resilience Committee has become one of the most respected voices on water policy in California.
Jim also played an instrumental role in the launch of the Bay Area Council’s Public Safety Committee and was a very supportive Co-Chair of the committee, helping establish it as a powerful force for improving safety across the region.
When the Bay Area Council was in the process of acquiring our current headquarters aboard the historic Klamath, Jim played a crucial role in ensuring the project’s success. He was instrumental in developing the financing structure that made the ambitious restoration project possible, and helped ensure the Council paid fair prices for the extensive renovation work required to transform the 1924 ferryboat into a modern headquarters and public space. Jim’s business acumen and commitment to fiscal responsibility were invaluable during the complex acquisition and restoration process.
“Jim was not just a great friend and collaborator, but an extraordinary leader who exemplified the very best of what makes the Bay Area special,” said Jim Wunderman, President and CEO of the Bay Area Council. “His infinite energy, innovative spirit, and unwavering commitment to finding solutions to our most complex challenges made him an invaluable partner in everything we did together. Jim had this remarkable ability to bring people together around a common vision and get big things done. He will be deeply missed, but his legacy of leadership and his passion for building a better Bay Area and State of California will continue to inspire all of us.”
“Jim represented the absolute best of California. He was visionary, hardworking, and boundlessly optimistic. He never stopped trying to help us solve California’s biggest environmental challenges, including our most complex challenges with water,” said Wade Crowfoot, Secretary, California Natural Resources Agency. “Working with Jim always brought me energy and a sense that yes, we can do this, and our best days are ahead. Our state and our lives are better thanks to Jim.”
In 1982, Jim co-founded the Levine-Fricke group of companies, which completed over 2,500 environmental remediation projects across California. He later founded the Montezuma Wetlands Project, which pioneered the use of dredged sediment to accelerate tidal wetland restoration, successfully restoring over 700 acres of wetland habitat and redrawing the San Francisco Bay shoreline. Read more about Jim’s career. On top of it all, Jim played guitar in the rock band CRISIS. Jim’s creative, can-do spirit was captured in this March 2024 profile published in the Mercury News.
The Bay Area Council extends its deepest condolences to Jim’s family.
