Norman B. Leventhal 1917-2015

Norman Leventhal was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts.  He was a graduate of Boston Latin School and a 1938 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

During World War II he was a Naval Architect. In 1945, he co-founded Beacon Construction Company, which grew to become an award-winning developer and manager of office buildings, affordable housing and hotels.

Mr. Leventhal served as a life member emeritus of the MIT Corporation. He was a board member and former Chairman of the Friends of Post Office Square and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, and was the Founding Chairman of A Better City (formerly know as Artery Business Committee). In 2007, Mr. Leventhal was inducted as a Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Norman Leventhal was recognized many times for his contributions to the built environment of Boston, which include Center Plaza, Rowes Wharf, South Station, One Post Office Square, the Hotel Meridien and affordable housing. In 1997, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino named the park in Post Office Square “Norman B. Leventhal Park” in recognition of his leadership of the Friends of Post Office Square. In 2007, Mayor Menino formally designated The Walk to the Sea as the “Norman B. Leventhal Walk to the Sea” in recognition of his role in shaping the new Boston.

In 2003, Mr. Leventhal, in partnership with the Boston Public Library, established The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. The Map Center is dedicated to education through the use of maps and provides public access to his collection and the Library’s extension collection of 250,000 maps and atlases.

In 1999, Mr. Leventhal produced a book entitled Mapping Boston. This book brings the history of Boston alive through its study of maps and images that depict the topographical, historic, economic and social changes that have taken place since Boston’s founding.