Leventhal (Norman B.) is born in Boston.

The son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, Norman Leventhal attends the Gibson School, graduates from Boston Latin School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and works initially as a naval architect at the Charlestown Navy Yard. In 1946, with his brother Robert, Leventhal founds the Beacon Company, which becomes one of the city’s largest real estate developers. He goes on to serve on a number of boards of non-profit organizations and become one of the city’s major philanthropists, making large gifts to the city in 1997,* 2007,* and 2008.* Leventhal dies on April 5, 2015.