Saratoga News

Douglas Leverich

Community will gather to honor SHS graduate

Saratoga High School students, teachers and members of the community who knew Douglas "Doug" Leverich are invited to join members of the Leverich family Nov. 30 to celebrate the life of the 19-year-old SHS graduate and UCLA freshman, who died Nov. 6 after a three-month battle with lymphoma.

The memorial service takes place at 10 a.m. in the high school's recently constructed Little Theatre, for which Leverich, with the help of a friend, designed a mural to beautify a bare outside wall. A play he wrote, called Back Light, will be performed there in the future.

While attending SHS, Leverich excelled in math and science, taking advanced placement classes in both calculus and physics. He was also proficient with computers and video games; his expertise in these areas was often sought by family and friends.

His other love was for various forms of creative arts. He performed key roles in several school plays and musicals not only as an actor, but also as a director and technician. These were among the reasons UCLA accepted him to its prestigious theater department.

In terms of music, Leverich was a piano player and composer--a few of his pieces will be played at the memorial. Beethoven was one of his heroes, as was Shakespeare. He enjoyed singing and was a tenor in SHS's concert and jazz choirs. At UCLA, he was a member of Awaken, an a capella men's chorus that consists of only 20 singers.

He was a poet, outdoor enthusiast, hiker and competitive sports player. He was also a fan of Monty Python and Star Trek.

While undergoing chemotherapy as an in-patient at Stanford Hospital, Leverich wanted to share his love of music with others. After he played Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique, Opus 13 in its entirety on the grand piano in the hospital atrium, patients and staff on surrounding floors showered him with rosebuds.

"In his short life, Doug found much to fascinate him. With such a rainbow of interests, it's no wonder he touched the lives of so many people. His compassion and energy were seemingly boundless," recalls SHS English teacher Judith Lyn Sutton.

Leverich is survived by his parents Lyle and Janet, brother Glen and an extended family of relatives and close friends.

Donations in Leverich's memory can be made to Saratoga High School or Saratoga National Bank, with the specification of Doug Leverich: Theatre Projects.

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