Joël Gessner Levy

October 30, 1949 - February 27, 2021

Joël Gessner Levy, a journalist, newspaper editor, writer and poet passed away on Saturday, February 27, 2021 in Alexandria, LA, after a brief illness. She was 71 years old. Joël was born October 30, 1949, in New Orleans, Louisiana. She attended Isidore Newman and Fortier High Schools, and graduated from Louisiana State University, where she studied journalism. While at LSU, she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority and served as its treasurer. She was also the editor of the 1971 edition of the LSU yearbook “Gumbo,” which stirred controversy among Louisiana legislators and garnered national attention for Joël and the university because of the publication’s realistic portrayals of student life. After graduation, Joël went to work as a nightshift copy editor for the Sun Herald in Biloxi, MS, followed by a brief stint in the advertising industry back in New Orleans. She quickly turned back to her first love, journalism, working as a feature writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune for several years. Ultimately, in 1982, she began what turned out to be a long-time career with the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate & State Times. During her years with the Advocate, Joël served primarily as a copy editor, working on the People Page and the Monday Woman tabloid, as well as in other areas of the paper. She wrote numerous features and columns and, as the newspaper’s technology was updated, received many accolades as a pioneer in digital layout. As an editor, Joël was considered to be brilliant and meticulous to a fault. She was also highly creative, which showed up in her newspaper work, as well as in everything she did, from needlework to photographic composition to her unique, quirky sense of interior design. Always an animal whisperer and advocate, Joël eventually became a border collie rescuer. Around the same time, she honed her dog training skills and began offering them to other dog owners in courses and private classes. Joël was highly intelligent, intrepid and fiercely independent. Shortly after graduating from college, she sold everything she owned to travel the world on her own. Her accounts of her incredible experiences traversing throughout the Middle East and Europe were always fascinating to friends and family. These experiences were just a small part of her lifelong pursuit of knowledge, fueled by an insatiable curiosity. She was never known to read less than five books at a time. She is predeceased by her parents, Bethoe G. Levy and Gus D. Levy. Her survivors include her brother Robert George Levy (Theresa) and Gwynneth Torres Berger (Sidney). Survivors also include four nieces, Harper Levy Buman (Nathan), Wallace Levy McKeel (Alan), Tourné Gessner Torres and Eliska Torres Fournier (Shawn), a grandnephew, Julien Daniel Fournier and grandniece, Breda Elizabeth Buman. Funeral services will be private, but Joël will be honored in a memorial with friends and family later this year. The family requests no flowers, but those who would like to make a donation in Joël’s honor are asked to consider contributing to Companion Animal Alliance of Baton Rouge (https://www.classy.org/give/76290/#!/donation/checkout) or Alpha Delta Pi Foundation (https://www.alphadeltapi.org/Foundation/Donate/). To extend online notes of condolence to the Levy Family, please visit www.KramerFunerals.com