By Pierre Ratté
Those who have strolled past Downtown Bakery and then found themselves easing into Levin’s without a thought of buying a book because they were enigmatically drawn in, join a host of others. Walking the east side of Center Street on the Plaza, there is an allure to enter Levin’s. Warm and worn Persian carpets, well-curated tables of bestsellers and frequently changed display books are part of it.
But something else cinches one’s opening the door and walking in. It’s knowing that the kindest people operate the bookstore and that the aura is something one wants to experience. The quietude, the atmosphere says: Welcome. A welcome that Aaron made special by his specialness.
On April 5, 2025, Aaron Rosewater, proprietor of Levin & Company Community Booksellers, passed away. His passing at the early age of 60 was shocking and heartrending.
To all who knew him, he was special. His knowledge, patience and kindness were immediately apparent in any interaction at the store. Levin’s is that special bookstore that seems from another era. An era that savors tranquility and gentility, which Aaron and his family created and which continues today.
Remembrance and celebration of a special life that elevated the experience of living in Healdsburg will take place at 10am on Aug. 17 at Dragonfly Floral, 425 Westside Rd.
Below are remembrances of Aaron and the legacy he and his family established and continue at Levin & Company, Community Booksellers, at 306 Center St.
Testimonials:
From The Healdsburg Tribune obit: “He was a brilliant polymath, equally adept in the world of statistics, the arts, and culture both high and low. He was a Shakespeare scholar… He was a trained artist… He was a gifted musician who played guitar as a hobby… He loved to meet with his theater loving friends each year for a week of camping in Oregon for the Shakespeare festival. One year, he decided he would provide campfire entertainment by learning and playing the entire Beatles catalog. But Aaron, being a perfectionist, was not satisfied with the chord structures of the songs that were presented to him in the books he bought or what he could find online… So before learning each song, he first corrected each incorrect chord.
“Aaron was the most even tempered of men. There was no trace of meanness in him anywhere… He lived in a household that operated as a foster home for over sixty small high strong dogs over the course of twenty years, and his gentle manner set them all at ease.
“He was a faithful, loving and appreciative husband who never spoke an ugly word in decades of married life.”
