LEVITT, Arthur, Jr. 1931-

PERSONAL:

Born February 3, 1931, in Brooklyn, NY; son of Arthur (a New York state comptroller) and Dorothy (Wolff) Levitt; married Marylin Blauner, 1955; children: one son, one daughter. Education: Williams College, B.A., 1952.

ADDRESSES:

Office—The Carlyle Group, 1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 220 South, Washington, DC 20004-2505.

CAREER:

Time, Inc., New York, NY, assistant promotional director, 1954-59; Oppenheimer Industries Inc., Kansas City, MO, vice president and director, 1959-62; Shearson Hayden Stone, Inc. (currently Shearson Lehman Brothers, Inc.), New York, NY, associate, 1962-78, president, 1969-78; American Stock Exchange, New York, NY, chairman and chief executive officer, 1978-89; Levitt Media Co., New York, NY, chairman, 1989-93; Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, DC, chairman, 1993-2001; consultant to business groups, including The Carlyle Group, 2001—. Chairman of New York City Economic Development Corporation, 1990-93. Former publisher of The Roll Call. Military service: U.S. Air Force, 1952-54.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Honorary doctorate degrees from Williams College, 1980, Pace University, 1980, Hamilton College, 1981, Long Island University, 1984, and Hofstra University, 1985; Phi Beta Kappa.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) How to Make Your Money Make Money: The Experts Explain Your Alternatives, the Risks, the Rewards, Dow Jones-Irwin (Homewood, IL), 1981.

(With Paula Dwyer) Take On the Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don't Want You to Know: What You Can Do to Fight Back, Pantheon (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS:

Arthur Levitt, Jr. presided over the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1993 until 2001, the longest SEC chairmanship ever. As a former stock broker and chairman of the American Stock Exchange, Levitt brought extensive knowledge of the nation's financial infrastructure to his work for the SEC. During his years in the position, he became known as a champion of small investors, who were flocking to the bull markets of the 1990s. Since leaving the Securities and Exchange Commission in February of 2001, Levitt has continued to advise both individual investors and large corporate entities on sound money management practices for the twenty-first century.

Levitt was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His father served as comptroller of the state of New York for almost a quarter of a century, and the younger Levitt benefited from the lessons learned while watching his father protect a large pension plan from politicians who wanted to make use of the money to cover budget deficits. After service in the Air Force, Levitt went to work on Wall Street as a stock broker and was eventually named chairman of the American Stock Exchange. President Bill Clinton named him chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1993. "Arthur Levitt was one of the last honest men left standing when they put out the lights on the Clinton administration," wrote Thomas A. Bass in the New York Times Book Review. "Levitt confronted corrupt brokers and analysts who were profiting from insider information. He fought price fixing on the stock exchanges and battled to keep accountants from cooking corporate books."

Levitt was well aware of the dangers facing small investors, because he was so familiar with the workings of stock brokerages, mutual funds, and the stock exchange. He fought successfully to end selective disclosure of sensitive corporate information, and he also oversaw prosecution of those who committed online securities fraud. In the Financial Times, Henry Paulson wrote: "While Levitt frequently casts himself as a David battling the Goliaths of Wall Street, I can testify that he was, on occasion, a David with a mighty accurate sling-shot."

Since leaving his post at the SEC, Levitt has cowritten a book that he says was penned with his late Aunt Edna in mind. Take On the Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don't Want You to Know: What You Can Do to Fight Back offers a crash course for small investors on the best way to do business on Wall Street. Levitt told Publishers Weekly: "As a former stockbroker and head of a Wall Street firm, and someone who headed a stock exchange and the SEC, I felt the individual investor was the most underrepresented force in our economy, but one of the most powerful potential forces. They were powerless, because they didn't organize.… I see my book as pointing out aspects of the market of which they may be unaware and the knowledge of which would make them more skeptical and circumspect investors."

"If anyone was in a position to write the definitive book on the excesses of the New Economy, it was Arthur Levitt," wrote Bass. "What he has chosen to write instead is a how-to book for small investors.… Because he couldn't help himself, or because the premise for the book changed as financial scandals began to hit the news, Levitt also tosses in an analysis of why the system blew up, with a road map for driving away from the wreckage." In the CPA Journal, Ned Regan declared: "Never has such a primer of market knowledge, laced with facts, insights, and above all, rich experiences, been available.… In Take On the Street, two decades of exciting and troublesome financial history come alive." David Siegfried in Booklist described the work as "solid, understandable advice for the conservative investor." And in Washington Monthly, Jane Mayer concluded: "Read from cover to cover, Take On the Street provides a comprehensive indictment of the overwhelming influence of private-interest money in Washington, tracing its course from the corruption of Congress to the resultant fleecing of consumers. It's a devastating picture, and one that adds to Levitt's reputation as a serious reformer in a thankless field." Mayer added: "Most insiders with access like his stay inside the club. Luckily, Levitt has instead retained the eye of an outsider, and the long-ago wish to be a writer."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 1, 2002, David Siegfried, review of Take On the Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don't Want You to Know: What You Can Do to Fight Back, p. 462.

CPA Journal, December, 2002, Ned Regan, review of Take On the Street, p. 17.

Economist, October 26, 2002, "An Overseer's Apology: Regulating Wall Street."

Financial Times, September 30, 2002, Henry Paulson, "A Washington Power Broker Regrets," p. 23.

Fortune, October 14, 2002, Janice Revell, "Taking On the Sage of Wall Street," p. 64.

Industry Week, November, 2002, John S. McClenahen, "Levittating," p. 11.

Institutional Investor International Edition, October, 2002, Justin Schack, "Levitt's Legacy," p. 88.

Library Journal, February 15, 2003, Dale Farris, review of Take On the Street, p. 183.

Mutual Fund Market News, September 23, 2002, "Arthur Levitt Takes on the Street."

Newsweek International, July 15, 2002, "The Mess on Wall Street," p. 64.

New York Times Book Review, November 24, 2002, Thomas A. Bass, "Buy Cheap, Sell Dear," p. 28.

Publishers Weekly, September 2, 2002, review of Take On the Street, p. 69; September 2, 2002, Edward Nawotka, "Investors Unite! You're Being Bilked," p. 72.

Strategic Finance, March, 2003, Bob Randall, "Former SEC Chairman Levitt Speaks Out," p. 19.

Traders, November 1, 2002, Gregory Bresiger, "Arthur Levitt's Revenge: Take On the Street."

Washington Monthly, November, 2002, Jane Mayer, "Street Wise," p. 53.

ONLINE

Book Page,http://www.bookpage.com/ (May 2, 2003), Stephanie Swilley, review of Take On the Street.

Business Week Online,http://www.businessweek.com/ (October, 2002), Christopher Farrell, "Sobering Lessons from Arthur Levitt."

Globe Technology,http://www.globetechnology.com/books/ (May 2, 2003), Andrew Allentuck, review of Take On the Street.

Tech Law Journal,http://www.techlawjournal.com/ (May 2, 2003), "Biography of Arthur Levitt."

University of Illinois, Institute of Government & Public Affairs,http://www.igpa.uiuc.edu/ethics/levitt-bio.htm/ (May 2, 2003), "Biography of Arthur Levitt."

University of Michigan, University Record Online,http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/ (February 10, 2003), Take On the Street.