René Jacques Lévy was born in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France on 7 July 1875.
Hailing from a Jewish family, he was one of at least six children born to Nephtali Georges Lévy (1842-1900) and Henriette Dreyfuss (1847-1905) who were married in Alsace on 17 April 1870.
His known siblings included: Jeanne (b. 1871), Berthe (b. 1873), Henri (b. 1878), Pierre (b. 1882) and Georges (b. 1885).
He trained as a research chemist and was a graduate of Nancy-Université. He was later the co-inventor with Georges Claude (1870-1960) of Paris, of the liquid air process for extracting oxygen and nitrogen from the atmosphere. On the back of this, in 1902 Georges Claude founded the company Air Liquide, still in operation to this day.
By 1901 Lévy lived in Manchester, England, listed as a research chemist aged 25. He was married in Paris on 23 July 1903 to Jeanne Royer (b. 14 February 1882 in Paris), the daughter of Auguste Royer and Euphrasie Thiout. The couple went on to have three children: Simone (b. 1904), Andrée (b. 1906) and Yvette (b. 1909).
At the behest of Georges Claude to expand operations in Canada, in March 1910 Lévy and his family emigrated to Montréal, Québec where his brother Georges lived at the time; they departed from Southampton on 23 March 1910 as a second cabin passengers aboard Adriatic and René was listed as a civil engineer aged 34 years, 6 months. Described as standing at 5’ 4” and with black hair and brown eyes, Lévy and his family’s last permanent residence was given as London.
Whilst in Montréal, Lévy opened a small business on St. Monique Street in connection with the process of welding and cutting materials by the oxyacetylene process. Due to a stark shortage in Canada of canned oxygen at the time, this raw material had to be imported from the United States. On account of this, it was decided to relocate the business where a larger site was founded on Maisonneuve, First Avenue and Ernest Street where plant, sent from Paris, was installed so that oxygen could be derived on an industrial scale, doing so since June 1911. Sales and demand surged, to the extent that Lévy was required to visit Paris to arrange with his co-inventor Georges Claude to consolidate the company into a solely Canadian entity.
By 1912 Lévy, his wife and daughters lived at 4 Boulevard St Joseph east, Montréal. As planned, he returned to Paris to settle affairs. It has also been claimed that he returned to France to attend a funeral.
With his business in Paris proving very satisfactory, Lévy had made plans for major enterprise developments, including the installation of new factories in Winnipeg and Vancouver.
Shortly before he left for the continent Lévy completed an application for membership in the Society of the Canadian Engineers.
(La Patrie, 17 April 1912)
Originally scheduled to sail back to Canada on the maiden voyage of the France on 20 April, Lévy switched passage when he learned he could get back to his wife in Montréal ten days earlier aboard the maiden voyage of Titanic. With his last place of abode stated as the Grand Hotel in Paris, Lévy boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg as a second-class passenger (ticket number SC/PARIS 2163, £12 17s 6d). He shared a cabin with Jean-Noël Malachard and an unidentified man.
After lunch on 14 April, Lévy was on deck together with Marie Jerwan and Malachard. Lévy pointed at a lifeboat and said: "I'm sure, if they lower these boats, the falls will be too short. Of course, I would prefer to go down with the ship rather than sitting in one of these boats."
After the collision, he met Marie Jerwan on her way back to her cabin from the boat deck, where she had gone to look out for the iceberg. Mrs Jerwan related to him about events and the possible danger, but he just smiled in reply.
After preparing and leaving her cabin, Mrs Jerwan met Lévy again at the starboard B-Deck. He, together with Malachard and their cabin-mate told her: "We'll take care of you." Together they went to the boat deck and Marie Jerwan was helped by them into lifeboat 11. The men shouted: "Good-bye!" when the boat was lowered and waved their hands. That was the last time when Lévy was seen.
René Lévy died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
The husband, an inventor, abroad on a business trip, was drowned. He is survived by the widow and three children under eight years of age. Application for relief was made by a sister of the widow. Investigation showed that the widow was not in need of assistance. Her husband had an income from royalties amounting to 1,500 dollars a year, which now comes to her. He left 5,000 dollars insurance and some money in the bank.
La Presse (27 May 1912) states that Lévy’s widow took control of his business dealings following his loss. Jeanne remained in Montréal and died in 1955.
His daughter Simonne married Stanley Brehaut Egerton Ryerson in 1934 and passed away in Montréal 1 March 1986, aged 81. Andrée married a Mr Lorraine and was still alive as of 1986. Yvette married a René Ach and was still living in Paris in 1986.
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One of my family members died on the Titanic, his name was Rene Levy. Your site is the most beautiful ' In Memoriam ' for him and for all those who losed their lives in this tragedy. Thank you. Terry Zakine-Cerf Switzerland
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Istanbul, Turkey, early 1930s In my great-grandparents’ circle of friends there was this lady who had lost her son in the Titanic. My grandmother, a young woman at the time, used to remember how she would never talk about it. I was wondering if it was true or if it was just one of the many stories that are passed in families from one generation to the other… but my mother says that it is true and still remembers the woman’s name: Levy. So she was French and not - as I thought - Turk or Greek (there were many Greeks in Istanbul back then, my grandmother being one of them). I found a Levy in the list of the victims: René Jacques Lévy. Age and nationality probably match the information I have. I wonder what happened to his wife and daughters, since his mother lived all alone in Istanbul and no one ever saw relatives of any kind. Does anyone have more information about René Jacques Lévy, how can I find out something more about him? Elena
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Bonjour Terry Je viens de trouver ce site par hasard en cherchant la famille Ach. Je suis une cousine des Ach, Yvette la troisième fille de Rene Jacques, s’est mariée a Andre Ach, un cousin de mon grand père et on les voyait souvent quand j’étais enfant. Elle est décédée vers 1990. Comment êtes vous relies a la famille Levy? Êtes vous relies a la famille picard de Belgique par hasard? Il y a des Cerf de ce cote aussi. merci. Salutations, Karine
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