In memoriam: Charles Leven (1928–2011) Paul Cheshire 1 , Stephen Sheppard 2 1 Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics, London, UK (e-mail: p.cheshire@lse.ac.uk) 2 Department of Economics, Williams College, Williamstown MA, USA (e-mail: stephen.c.sheppard@williams.edu) Charles Leven in 1991 On March 15, 2011 the regional science community lost a provocative, curious and playful mind as well as a dear friend and teacher with the death of Charles Leven. A founding member and past president of the Regional Science Association, Charlie’s impact on the variety of disciplines that come together under the heading of Regional Science was significant and it is worth pausing to reflect on those contributions and the nature of the man who made them. After service in the Navy in 1945–46, Charlie pursued his undergraduate education at Illinois Institute ofTechnology, University of Illinois and Northwestern University, graduating with honours in Mathematics from Northwestern in 1950. During these college days, Charlie developed a serious interest in jazz music and in the ‘American songbook’ and attended clubs, performances and lectures. This love extended all his life, and Charlie could be counted on to collaborate in an impromptu singing of a show tune classic. Charlie’s interest in regional economics developed while working as a research assistant for the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank in the 1950s. He began his graduate study part time taking courses with support from the bank and pursuing research ideas that interested him and were doi:10.1111/j.1435-5957.2011.00382.x © 2011 the author(s). Papers in Regional Science © 2011 RSAI. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden MA 02148, USA. Papers in Regional Science, Volume 90 Number 3 August 2011.