Gerald M. Levin
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This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. (August 2012) |
| Gerald Levin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gerald Levin May 6, 1939 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Nationality | American |
- For the Wilton Brands CEO, Revlon CEO, Sunbeam/American Household CEO, Sharper Image Chairman, see Jerry W. Levin
Gerald M. "Jerry" Levin (born May 6, 1939) is an American mass-media businessman. CNBC named him as one of the "Worst American CEOs of All Time".[1]
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Early life and education[edit]
Levin was born in Pennsylvania to a Russian-Romanian Jewish family.[2][3] He lived as a child in Overbrook Hills, a suburb of Philadelphia. He attended Haverford College, where he is a member of the Board of Directors. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1963.
Levin has been married three times and is the father of five children.
Career and later life[edit]
Levin spent most of his career with Time Inc. (later Time Warner, then AOL Time Warner), starting as a programming executive for Home Box Office (HBO) and eventually becoming CEO of the corporation. Levin is probably most famous for having brokered the merger between AOL and Time Warner in 2000, at the height of the dot-com bubble, a merger which seemed to many to be disadvantageous to Time Warner as the bubble collapsed in the next few years.
Murder of Jonathan Levin[edit]
One of his children, Jonathan Levin, a 31-year-old high school English teacher, was tortured and murdered on May 31, 1997 by one of his own students.[4][5] The student, Corey Arthur, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in November 1998. A purported accomplice, Montoun Hart, was acquitted on the same charges in February 1999. While Hart had written a confession, jurors were not able to find out how it was obtained and felt it was unreliable.
The murder occurred after Jonathan had mentioned that his father was Time-Warner head Gerald M. Levin in the classroom. The former student, Corey Arthur, assumed that Jonathan was rich. The student stole Jonathan's bank card and got the account's PIN, obtaining about $200 from the account.
Jonathan Levin High School for Media and Communications in The Bronx, New York City, is named after the murdered teacher.
Philanthropic activities[edit]
In addition to being a businessman, Levin is a philanthropist; he is a supporter of Jewish causes and engages in other charitable and philanthropic work as well. He is a trustee and supporter of the Museum of Jewish Heritage,[6] among other charitable organizations.
Further reading[edit]
- Klein, Alec, Stealing Time: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner (Simon & Schuster, 2003) ISBN 0-7432-5984-X
References[edit]
- ^ CNBC.com
- ^ To the End of Time: The Seduction and Conquest of a Media Empire. Simon & Schuster. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
- ^ "slate.com article". slate.com. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
- ^ David Rohde (December 11, 1998). "Jurors Convict Youth in Killing Of His Teacher". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2011.
- ^ The New York Times http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F07E7DF1639F937A35755C0A961958260
|url=missing title (help). Retrieved August 7, 2012. - ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F07E7DF1639F937A35755C0A961958260. Retrieved August 7, 2012. Missing or empty
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External links[edit]
- Gerald Levin's page at The Museum of Broadcast Communications' website
- Forbes Magazine article about Levin's resignation from AOL Time Warner
- October 20, 1998 CNN.com news article discussing opening statements at the trial of Jonathan Levin's then suspected murderer
- Moonview Sanctuary: Gerald Levin's holistic treatment center based in Santa Monica, California
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Steve Ross |
Time-Warner CEO 1992-2002 |
Succeeded by Richard Parsons |
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This article about an American businessperson born in the 1930s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- Living people
- 1939 births
- American chief executives
- American people of Russian-Jewish descent
- American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
- American mass media owners
- HBO people
- Time Warner people
- American Jews
- Jewish philanthropists
- People from Pennsylvania
- Haverford College alumni
- University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni
- American business biography, 1930s birth stubs
