Joan Schnitzer Levy is a native Houstonian. Her parents, the late Rae and Abe Weingarten, were her role models as she watched them share their time, energy and resources for the betterment of the community. She learned her lessons well. Most of her adult life has revolved around volunteer activities.
She is currently a Board Member of the ESCAPE Family Resource Center and has chaired the ESCAPE Center Benihana Celebrity Chef Benefit since 1987. She is active in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts National Committee, the M.D. Anderson Board of Visitors and is a Board and Guild Member of various non-profit organizations.
Joan volunteered at the Texas Children’s Hospital for twenty years. She chaired the: Opening of the Houston Summit; Epilepsy Foundation Benefit; March of Dimes; Houston Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Evening; Houston Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Style Show and Luncheon; First National Children’s Telethon in Houston; ESCAPE Family Resource Center (“Tall Tales at tony’s”); ESCAPE Family Resource Center (Opening of Longhorn Grill Restaurant); Texas Heart Institute (“Leading with the Heart”, a tribute to Dr. Denton Cooley); ESCAPE Family Resource Center (Opening of Anthony’s Restaurant); ESCAPE Family Resource Center (Opening of Park Place Mercedes).
Joan has been honored with the following awards: Juvenile Diabetes Foundation’s Living and Giving Award; Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s Woman of Distinction Award; The Greater Houston Women’s Foundation’s Award; The Cancer League’s Pacesetter of the Year; the Houston Post’s 100 Years of Houston Pioneer Women; Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s Woman of Distinction Ambassador Award; United Cerebral Palsy Guild’s Houston’s Outstanding Mothers Award; Cancer Fighters of Houston’s All-American Award.
She has served on the boards of The Houston Youth Symphony, Houston Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, Houston Epilepsy Foundation and Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Joan is married to Irvin L. Levy of Dallas, has two children, Kenneth Schnitzer, Jr. and Douglas Schnitzer, and five grandchildren, Douglas, Johnathan, Lauren, Robert and Stephen.