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In memory of

Ms. Sue Levinson Herskowitz

Houston, TX

October 30, 1932 - March 5, 2021

Oct 30, 1932 - Mar 5, 2021

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Sue Levinson Herskowitz, a lifelong Houstonian and the wife of sports columnist and author Mickey Herskowitz, passed away Friday night, March 5th, in Houston, with her family traveling from around the country to be with her on her last days.

Sue died of natural causes, at 88, at the Autumn Leaves Memory Care Community, where she had been a resident after being diagnosed with dementia three years ago. She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Mickey, her daughter Robin and husband Greg, sons Steve and Brian and their wives Michelle and Gina, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Michelle acted as a caretaker for the family for most of the past three and a half years. Sue was preceded in death by her mother and father, Ida and Reuben Levinson, her adopted son, Christopher, and some 15 dogs, including four Australian Shepherds, Olivia Newton Puppywitz, Rally, Sydney, and Cookie.

As the Rice Institute band's head drum majorette, Sue was the first person to set foot officially on Rice Stadium’s turf on the opening night of 1950. Her heart belonged to Rice, but she didn’t finish there. She obtained her bachelor’s degree and master’s in social work at the University of Houston. In her careers, she was a teacher, educational diagnostician, counselor, and social worker. She was a proud graduate of Milby High School and an honors student at Rice. Her father died when she was 11, and the failure years later of the four dry goods stores he left behind forced her to drop out of college, returning a decade later to complete her education.

She had a brilliant mind, sadly scrambled by dementia at the end of her life, and a generous heart. She was a rescue activist before the word applied to lost or discarded kids and pets. She brought a dozen or more of her students into her homes for periods of time and even years, and 20 or so stray dogs, a miniature donkey, spider monkey, squirrels, and two horses, for which she and her husband built a stable and corral in their backyard on Memorial Drive.

In 1983, Phyllis George, the former Miss America from Denton, Tx, and then the wife of Governor John Y. Brown, invited them to be guests of the First Couple at the Kentucky Derby. In 1985, Sue and Mickey were investors – through their longtime friend and stockbroker Don Sanders and Houston Astro Terry Puhl --in a colt named Skywalker, who finished fifth in the Derby after breaking a bone in his fetlock two yards out of the starting gate. A year later, Skywalker won the $3 Million Breeders Cup Classic in a major upset at Santa Anita. They celebrated that night at Chasen’s in Hollywood with other partners, including Tom Tatham, John Adger, and Camille Berman, the elite Houston restaurant owner, Maxim’s. Berman announced he would honor Skywalker by putting a steak in his name on the menu. Mickey convinced him that naming a steak after a horse might be awkward.

Sue enjoyed a classic life. She traveled on her own and with Mickey on his writing assignments to Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel, Barcelona, Spain, Monte Carlo, Munich, Germany, London, and Paris. On her travels, she met Aristotle and Jacqueline Onassis, Frank and Barbara Sinatra, Governor John Connally and Nellie, Shirley Jones and Marty Ingels, Howard and Emmy Cosell, Dan and Jean Rather, Mark and Suzy Spitz, George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, comedian Flip Wilson, and Earl and Reuna Campbell -- she tutored Earl’s wife in math when Reuna was a student at U of H. Far from star-struck, Sue became friends with several of them. She and Mickey were, on occasion, guests in their vacation homes.

She and her future husband met when they were 14, had their first date at 17, dated exclusively at 19 after Mickey came home from the Marine Corps, and married at 21. They actually married twice, the first time in the home of a justice of the peace in Rosenberg, in June of 1954, a wedding kept secret so as not to upset Mickey’s mother. Their formal wedding took place eight months later, in the gardens at Westwood Country Club. The wedding party included Sue’s closest friend from childhood, Virginia Patterson, as maid of honor. The couple honeymooned in Monterrey, Mexico, where Sue returned a dozen years later for a continuing education course in Spanish at Monterrey Tech.

Along with math, she taught Spanish for several years at Spring Branch Junior High School. One of her students was Chris Gilbert, a star running back on the football team and later a three-time All-American at the University of Texas. Sue once had to punish Chris for a disciplinary issue, which required swats with a paddle. She couldn’t do it. She had to enlist an assistant coach to enforce the penalty. After school Sue went home and cried.

She was a devoted wife and loving mother who didn’t spoil her grandchildren. She drove her sons to judo tournaments all over America, from Texas to Virginia and California, and would get up at 4 am on Sundays to take them fishing. After her children had grown into adults, the family rang in many a new year in Las Vegas, at Caesars Palace, where Mickey was a popular guest. Sue was not a risk-taker and limited her gambling to the nickel slot machines. She loved to shop for high fashions, favoring St. John’s, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, and Prada. Shop she did. But their most unforgettable New Year’s was in New Orleans before a Sugar Bowl game. After the traditional party at Antoine’s, a group from Houston moved on to famed trumpeter Al Hirt’s club on Bourbon Street. The place was packed, as it always was, and the dozen or so Houstonians, including Rice sports information director Bill Whitmore and his wife, Lucy, squeezed themselves around a single table on a level elevated above the first floor. At one point, the band took a break, and a drunken celebrant approached Mickey, waving a whiskey glass. “You’re Pee Wee, aren’t you?” he declared. “I’m with a couple of ladies who think you’re cute and want you to have a drink with us.” Mickey’s eyes followed the wave of the man’s arm and spotted a blonde and brunette in fur coats sitting in a booth on the lower floor. He realized instantly that the intruder had mistaken him for Al Hirt’s clarinetist, Pee Wee Spiteleri. They were roughly the same size, with dark hair and both wearing tuxedos.

Mickey replied, “I’m not Pee Wee. I’m a writer from Houston, and I’m here covering the Sugar Bowl.”

The man persisted. “Don’t get mad, Pee Wee. Just have a drink. If you like one of them, you can stay. If not, it’s your call.”

This went back and forth for a few minutes, and finally, Mickey pointed to the table and snapped. “Listen, I’m not Pee Wee, and I can’t join you. This is my wife sitting right here.”

Sue looked down and said, easily, “Oh, go ahead and have a drink with them, Pee Wee.”

After the pandemic, a memorial service will be held. The family extends its gratitude to the Autumn Leaves staff for the care and love they showed Sue. In lieu of flowers, those who wish to remember Sue are invited to donate to the SPCA or PETA, supporting the needy dogs she so loved.

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