CORRECTION

A front-page story Saturday about abuse allegations against pediatrician Dr. Mel Levine incorrectly identified Minnesota psychologist Gary Schoener as a doctor. He is a licensed psychologist who holds an honorary doctorate.

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Jean Boyles' reaction was visceral when she heard last week that Dr. Mel Levine, the pediatrician who treated her son for more than a decade, was accused of fondling patients.

"I thought it was ridiculous," said Boyles, a Raleigh lawyer. "And so did my son."

Levine is a world-famous child development expert credited with revolutionizing his field and propelling thousands of troubled children to success. He has written dozens of well-regarded books and trained teachers and doctors in several states.

Last week, accusations that he improperly touched boys during physical exams became widely known when a Boston lawyer held a news conference, saying he represents five former patients in lawsuits against Levine.

Since then, lawyers say, 40 people, several of them in North Carolina, have come forward to allege being molested by Levine, 68.

Officials at the UNC School of Medicine, which has employed Levine since 1985, say they are investigating a similar complaint, received last weekend.

Now, Levine's legions of fans -- patients, doctors and teachers -- are trying to reconcile the man they revere with the allegations that could destroy his career.

Many parents see Levine as a savior, the first doctor to understand their children's unique struggles. Levine built his career by defying conventional wisdom about learning disabilities, refusing even to use the word disability or to diagnose children with specific disorders. Instead, he has espoused the idea that each child has a different learning style. He is widely described as a genius.

Levine, who lives in Rougemont, declined to comment.

"Dr. Levine has received an outpouring of support over the last couple of weeks," said his Raleigh attorney, Alan Schneider. "For a man who has spent his entire life trying to save troubled families ... these are the worst type of allegations. It's heart wrenching."

Earlier cases dismissed

Behind the scenes, such claims are not new to Levine, who has been a pediatrician since 1966, first in Massachusetts and then in Chapel Hill. Seven former patients, all of whom saw him in Massachusetts, have accused Levine of improper conduct.

In 1988, a patient filed suit in federal court claiming that, upon every visit to Levine, he was asked to strip naked from the waist down and stand on a stool. Levine inspected the boy's genitals so closely that they touched Levine's face, the suit says. The suit was dismissed.

In 1993, a patient who saw Levine for digestive problems filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, claiming that Levine handled his genitals excessively.

The board dismissed the complaint after Levine laid out a host of medical reasons for genital examinations in such patients.

Since 2005, Boston lawyer Carmen Durso has filed five lawsuits that make similar claims. Durso, well known for representing several men who sued Catholic priests in Boston, said his clients had suppressed their experiences for years before having their memories triggered by events such as going to a pediatrician visit with a son or seeing Levine's books.

'The ray of hope'

They are damaging allegations against a man whose life has been defined by success and acclaim.

A native of New York, Levine graduated from Brown University and was a Rhodes scholar before getting his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1966. He joinedin the Air Force during the Vietnam War and served as a pediatrician at an air base in the Philippines.

Even as a teenager, he took an interest in troubled children.

Bob Bolderson, now a yacht builder in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said he was 9 years old when he met Levine, then a student at Brown. Levine was part of a club that mentored boys from poor and broken homes.

Bolderson said Levine took him and other boys camping and mountain climbing and introduced them to classical music. "The ray of hope that many of us saw was the time we spent with Mel," Bolderson said.

Bolderson said he has talked to many of the boys Levine mentored at that time, and he has never heard a single allegation of inappropriate conduct.

In 1985, UNC-CH recruited Levine from Children's Hospital in Boston. At Chapel Hill, he took over the Clinical Center for the Study of Development and Learning, which specializes in care for children with learning problems.

His innovative approach -- he shunned labels such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and focused on detailed evaluations and individualized learning plans -- drew patients from across the country. Doctors also flocked to study at Levine's side.

Many of Levine's patients were invited to his farm, where he keeps 240 geese, some of them rare and endangered species, along with pheasants, peacocks, swans and donkeys.

He and his wife Barbara, known as "Bambi," have no children. Levine, who submitted a 14-page autobiography to The News & Observer, described himself as a connoisseur of single malt scotches, a lover of poetry and an avid traveler.

While in North Carolina, he published 13 widely read books on child development and, in 1995, founded a nonprofit institute called All Kinds of Minds, which offers teacher training and other services.

During travels to promote his methods, Levine wrote in his autobiography, he realized "that I have a very vocal, vast, yet decidedly unsought, 'cult following.'"

UNC knew of lawsuits

Levine retired from UNC-CH, where his yearly salary was $258,000, to work full-time for the institute in 2006. Until the allegations surfaced, he continued to see patients there two days a month for no pay, said Karen McCall, a spokeswoman for the School of Medicine.

McCall said the university was aware of the lawsuits against Levine, but there were no judgments against him and, until last weekend, none of his North Carolina patients complained. She declined to comment on whether the university investigated after hearing of the lawsuits.

"We thoroughly investigate any complaints and take appropriate action," McCall said.

Durso has enlisted the help of Raleigh lawyer Elizabeth Kuniholm to handle complaints that have surfaced in North Carolina.

"I think these are very serious complaints," Kuniholm said.

She said she is weighing the possibility of filing suits in North Carolina, but the state's three-year statute of limitations may stop some of them. She said she will report allegations to the N.C. Medical Board, which licenses and disciplines doctors.

Officials at the Medical Board say they are prohibited by state law from disclosing whether they have received complaints about Levine or whether they are investigating him. The board has never disciplined him.

Dr. Gary Schoener, a psychologist in Minnesota who treats victims and perpetrators of sex abuse, said abuse victims often suppress memories and come forward only after they hear of other victims. Schoener said that's why widespread molestation by priests went undiscovered for decades.

"It's off the map, the number of people who think, 'I was the only one and that must mean that something is wrong with me,'" Schoener said.

Allies defend Levine

Levine's defenders say they worry that Levine's prominence has attracted people who hope for a payoff.

Dr. Edwin Sumpter, a retired pediatrician, said he studied under Levine and watched him treat patients. He never saw anything inappropriate.

Sumpter chafed at Durso's contention that genital exams are often unnecessary for children with learning disorders. Sumpter, who lives in Raleigh, said a child's sexual development can be linked to psychological disorders.

"When you see a child you need to know the whole child," Sumpter said. "It's quite different than with a fully formed adult."

Boyles said her son, Benjamin, saw Levine about twice a year for more than a decade.

She said physical exams were key to monitoring her son's progress, and she left the room to give her son privacy.

She said Levine helped her son go from struggling in special education to flourishing in college. He is now a student in dental school, and Levine wrote his letter of recommendation.

"Mel, when he met with kids, he just told them they could do anything; he inspired them," Boyles said. "They walked out of there feeling good about themselves."

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