Lance Levine, the former owner of an El Paso manufacturing company and a passionate photographer in recent years, died June 25. He would have turned 83 years old in August.
He died in his West El Paso home after battling a cancerous brain tumor for almost two years.
He founded his company, MFI International in his native New York City in 1962, moved it to Chicago, and then to El Paso in 1984 to do manufacturing on the United States-Mexico border, said Emma Wollschlager (formerly Emma Schwartz), one of his stepchildren.
“He was a very smart man,” said Wollschlager, managing partner of Ecotone Investment Fund in El Paso and former president of the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation. “He was a fantastic mentor for me.”
Levine added a partner to his company and his life in 1989 when he married Cecilia Ochoa Levine, who had her own El Paso manufacturing company when they met.
“I always told her that one of the reasons I married her was to punish her for taking a (manufacturing) contract away from me,” Lance Levine joked in a 2006 El Paso Times interview. They were married 35 years.
He took care of the company's finances while Cecilia Ochoa Levine was its creative force, the couple explained in the 2006 interview.
The Levines retired from the company several years ago. It’s now owned and operated by one of their sons, Lawrence Wollschlager.
MFI operates factories in El Paso's Lower Valley, where it's headquartered, and in Juárez. It now manufactures mattress covers, upholstery materials, military goods, automotive components, and other textile products.
“He was the rock of the family,” said Lance Michael Levine, 33, the youngest of the Levine children. “He was very involved in the family, (helping) with personal or business decisions.”
He was not only the young Levine's father, but also his mentor who encouraged him to open his own business, Hammer Performance, a truck customizer located in Sunland Park, New Mexico, the son said.
In recent years, Lance Levine went on numerous, exotic photography expeditions where he took beautiful photos of landscapes and wild animals. He posted many of them through the years on his Facebook page.
“He was always interested in photography.” Lance Michael Levine said. “As long as I have been alive (33 years), he always had a camera in his hand, but not until the last 20 years did he get more into it.”
His photos decorate his children’s homes and also hang in many of his friends’ offices.
Lance Levine also was involved in the U.S./Mexico/Canada Strategic Alliance foundation founded by his wife. It supports various projects in Juárez and other areas.
Besides his wife, Lance Levine also is survived by three children and three stepchildren, and several grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held Sunday, July 7, from 6-9 p.m., including a 7 p.m. Mass, at Perches Funeral Home West at 6111 S. Desert Blvd.
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 915-546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter, now known as X.
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