Founder of Hartz Mountain Industries, Leonard Stern continues to oversee operations of the extensive Hartz real estate portfolio. Under his 36 years of creative leadership, Hartz has built and currently owns over 35 million square feet of office, industrial, hotel and retail properties in over 200 buildings, including major developments on the New Jersey' Hudson River waterfront, in the New Jersey Meadowlands, and Manhattan.
Mr. Stern began his career at Hartz in 1959, taking over operations of his father's pet supply business. Promptly expanding the product lines from their primary bird food focus into expanded product lines catering to owners of dogs, cats, tropical fish and hamsters, he then rapidly broadened Hartz' distribution channels from variety stores into more than 30,000 supermarkets and mass merchandisers. Under his leadership, the "Hartz" trademark became the most widely known and respected pet supply brand in America, and America's leading manufacturer of pet supplies. In order to concentrate on the management of his growing real estate and financial interests, Mr.Stern sold the Hartz Mountain Pet Company in December 2000, thus ending the family's 76 years of ownership.
In 1966, he began a major diversification of his business interests by going into active real estate development, with the founding of Hartz Mountain Industries. Today Hartz has become one of the largest privately held real estate companies in the United States.
From 1986 through 1999, he successfully built Stern Publishing, publishers of the Village Voice, the LA Weekly, the Seattle Weekly, the Cleveland Free Press, and City Pages in Minneapolis, into America's leading publisher of alternative weekly newspapers, with a total weekly circulation of more than 900,000. Mr. Stern sold his publishing interests in March 2000.
Over the years, he also built, and sold numerous other businesses including; SM/Cork, the United Kingdom's largest "non foods" service distributor, Harmon Homes which published 180 free circulation "Homes" magazines, and the Carpet Magic Company which manufactured and serviced carpet cleaning machine rental centers in 20,000 retail stores.
Mr. Stern earned B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from New York University, and served as an NYU trustee from 1976 - 1996.
He currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Real Estate Board of New York.
He is the founder (1986) and Chairman of Homes for the Homeless, America's largest non profit provider of emergency housing for homeless families. In addition, Mr. Stern is an active supporter of many charitable causes.
He is the recipient of numerous honors including: "Doctor of Humane Letters" awarded by Yeshiva University (1985), and an Honorary "Doctor of Law" degree (1995) from Fairleigh Dickinson, as well as the Albert Gallatin medal from New York University.
New York University renamed its Graduate and Undergraduate Schools of business, The Leonard N. Stern School of Business, in recognition of his $30 million donation and his many years of active service as a university trustee.
Leonard Stern
