LEVITT, ARTHUR, SR.

LEVITT, ARTHUR, SR. (1900–1980), comptroller of New York State. Levitt was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Israel Levitt and Rose Daniels and married Dorothy M. Wolff in 1929. The couple had one child, ARTHUR LEVITT, JR., who was the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 1993–2001. An infantry private in the U.S. Army in 1917 during World War I, Levitt proceeded to Columbia University after the war ended in 1918 and completed his bachelor's degree in 1921, followed by a law degree in 1924. He became a member of the New York Bar and operated his practice until rejoining the army in 1941 during World War II as a member of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps. During his wartime service, he advanced to colonel and oversaw a JAG training center located in Queens, New York. His political involvement began in 1946 as campaign manager to New York Assemblyman Irwin Steingut; in 1952 he was named to the New York City Board of Education, and became its president in 1954. His term was short-lived as, at the request of New York governor W. Averell Harriman, Levitt ran for and won election as the state's comptroller, a position he held until his retirement in 1978. The overriding focus of Levitt's record 24 years as comptroller was guarding the interests of his constituents. Levitt was known as the consummate public servant by his avoidance of political preferences in his decision-making process, serving six scandal-free terms, being tenacious in tracking the usage of local and state public funds, and displaying unsurpassed diligence to detail in auditing procedures. In particular, he gave great attention to protecting the pension plans of working men and women and the definitive example of this occurred during New York City's financial troubles in the 1970s when Levitt prevented city officials from using workers' pensions to stave off potential bankruptcy. Aside from winning six elections as the state's comptroller, Levitt's political career included a run in 1961 for mayor of New York City, although he lost in the Democratic primary; chair of the Democratic state convention in 1965; and delegate member in the party's 1968 and 1976 national conventions. After stepping down from his comptroller post in 1978, Levitt worked as an investment officer for the Lincoln Savings Bank in New York City until his death in 1980. He was a recipient of a Distinguished Public Service Award from the Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy and awarded the Legion of Merit medal in 1946 for his JAG service. An endowment fund was formed posthumously by Levitt, Jr., in conjunction with the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, which backs lectures and other events. (Dawn DesJardins (2nd ed.)