Leon Levy

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Leon Levy (1926–2003) was, according to his obituary in Forbes magazine, a "Wall Street investment genius and prolific philanthropist," who helped create both mutual funds and hedge funds. He co-founded the mutual fund manager Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. in 1959. There he started dozens of mutual funds that, at his death, had grown to manage more than $120 billion. In 1982 he sold Oppenheimer to the U.K.'s Mercantile House for $162 million and co-founded Odyssey Partners, a private investment partnership. It grew to be a $3 billion hedge fund before it was dissolved in 1997.

Levy's financial philosophy stressed common sense and the psychology of investors. He studied at Townsend Harris High School and was strongly influenced by his father, a well-known economist and business executive who taught him the role corporate profits play in charting the economy's direction. To honor his father, he founded the Jerome Levy Economics Institute at Bard College.

In 2002, Levy published a memoir, written with Eugene Linden, called "The Mind of Wall Street: A Legendary Financier on the Perils of Greed and the Mysteries of the Market" (Perseus Book Group).

Levy's philanthropy began in the 1950s, when he established the Jerome Levy Institute. Levy and his wife Shelby White grew to be well known for their philanthropic efforts, which amounted to more than $200 million before his death. They donated $20 million to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the construction of the new Leon Levy and Shelby White Court, a gallery hosting the largest selection of Hellenistic and Roman artwork ever exhibited at that museum. When completed, the gallery will host a number of pieces from Levy and White's substantial art collection, which also includes art from the Near East. Since 1997, they have also given more than $6 million to 133 scholars for the publication of archaeological excavations that had previously been completed but never published. The projects funded by their program, the Shelby White-Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications, include excavations at some of the highest profile archaeological sites throughout Greece and the Middle East, including Knossos, Aphrodisias, Kition, Ras Shamra, Sarepta, Mt. Gerizim, Ekron, Lachish, Megiddo, Jerusalem, Pella, Jerash, the Dead Sea Plains, Assur, Nineveh, Nuzi, and Tepe Hissar. They have also been generous benefactors to Christ's College, Cambridge, the New York Botanical Garden, Rockefeller University, and the Institute for Advanced Study, among many other organizations.

In spring, 2006, the Leon Levy Foundation, created from Levy's estate in 2004, pledged $200 million to New York University for the creation of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. The Institute is supposed to be a interdisciplinary research center of the ancient world, where the first full class of graduate students is expected to enter in Fall 2008. The donation has created controversy among some academics, causing the resignation from NYU’s Center for Ancient Studies — which is not affiliated with the new institute -- of NYU professor Randall White, who was concerned about ethical problems in receiving donation from a foundation whose benefactor has sometimes been associated with questionable practices in antiquities collection and trafficing (see Laura de la Torre, "$200 million donation spurs controversy", Washington Square News, April 3, 2006). Several scholars outside NYU, especially from Bryn Mawr College, University of Pennsylvania and University of Cincinnati, also commented negatively about NYU's acceptance of the gift (See James C. Wright, "Improprieties Highlight Need For Ethics In Archaeology," The Harvard Crimson, April 7, 2006 and Patrick S. Lahue "Donor at Center of Artifacts Storm Academics question ethics of philanthropists Levy and White’s acquisitions" The Harvard Crimson, April 06, 2006). The recent publication by Peter Watson and Cecelia Todeschini, entitled "The Medici Conspiracy: The Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities--From Italy's Tomb Raiders to the World's Greatest Museums" (2006) lays out the dynamics of illegal trade in antiquities, where Leon Levy and Shelby White appear as practitioners of unethical practices in collecting antiquities.

However, some scholars support the foundation and the institute. Professor James McCredie, of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU's graduate teaching and advanced research center for art history, wrote a letter to Provost David McLaughlin endorsing the project. It was signed by IFA's seven professors of ancient art and architecture.

The Leon Levy Foundation has also created the Philip J. King Professorship at Harvard University to support a scholar who will use an interdisciplinary approach to advance the understanding of ancient civilizations in the Near East and the Mediterranean.