'He embraced everyone': Girlfriend of Lyft driver who died recalls his kindness
Kathi Ginsberg recalled one of her fondest moments with Gary Levin.
It was a memory from the week before Christmas, when Ginsberg and Levin, her boyfriend of nearly six years, attended a Smokey Robinson concert at the Broward County Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, a belated gift for Levin's 74th birthday.
“We both loved Smokey Robinson,” Ginsberg said. “He held me the whole time. He had his arms wrapped around me. We cried together when we heard, ‘Ooo Baby, Baby.' ”
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Ginsberg reflected on her life with Levin on Wednesday, a day after his family confirmed his death and more than a week after he went missing while working as a driver for the Lyft ride-sharing service.
She described the 74-year-old, who she first met in 2017 when they both lived in the Philadelphia area, as someone who love to sing, to slow dance, to drive and to meet new people.
A home-cooked meal awaited Gary Levin had he returned home Jan. 30
Ginsberg, who now lives in South Florida, said it was Levin who convinced her to move away from the harsh Northeast winters.
“If you ever wanted to find a person that was a person for every person, that would be Gary,” she said. “He said hello to everyone. He embraced everyone, even the people that weren’t so nice. He brought the niceness out of them.”
Ginsberg said she is heartbroken over the past week’s events, recalling one of her last communications with Levin in the hours before his disappearance She told him she planned to make a nice dinner when he returned home that evening. She said she and Levin were working through a disagreement they had the day before he went missing.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office announced Saturday that they were investigating the discovery of human remains in a wooded area of northern Okeechobee County, which was Levin’s last known location before he vanished Jan. 30 while working for Lyft.
The agencies confirmed Tuesday that they had identified the remains, but declined to say whether the remains were those of Levin, citing a 2018 state constitutional amendment modeled after California’s Marsy’s Law. It allows crime victims or their families to have their names withheld from public reports.
Lindsay DiBetta, Levin's daughter, confirmed his death Tuesday on her Facebook page but did not discuss the circumstances surrounding his death.
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Last week, Levin’s family reported that he drove to the Delray Beach area to pick up a passenger shortly before 1:30 p.m. Jan. 30 and that his last cellphone communication placed in him Okeechobee about two and one-half hours later.
The Palm Beach Gardens Police Department opened a missing persons investigation after Levin’s family reported him missing. On the evening of Feb. 2, North Carolina state troopers found Levin's red 2022 Kia Stinger in the possession of a man wanted on a murder charge in Hardee County in Central Florida. North Carolina troopers arrested Matthew Scott Flores, 35, after a chase across two counties west of Charlotte.
The Wauchula Police Department reported that Flores is wanted in connection with a homicide that occurred Jan. 24 in that city, 75 miles southeast of Tampa. Authorities say Flores lives in Arcadia, 25 miles south of Wauchula in neighboring DeSoto County.
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As of Wednesday, Flores had not been charged in connection to Levin’s disappearance. Assistant State Attorney Brian Workman of the major crimes division in Fort Pierce said Flores is a person of interest in the Okeechobee investigation.
Ginsberg said of one of things that most stood out to her about Levin was his kindness to others.
“He wanted to know everybody,” she said. “He wanted be the funny person. He wanted to be the serious person. He wanted to be whatever that person needed at that time. I don’t how I’m going to live without him. "
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Gary Levin, Lyft driver who died, 'embraced everyone,' girlfriend says
