Polyglot yearbook photo of arthur levitt Jr. ’48
From The Polygon’s editor-in-Chief to SeC Chief How Distinguished Poly Alum arthur levitt Jr. ’48 Got His Start
Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Williams College. General’s aid in the U.S. Air Force. The Berkshire Eagle’s drama critic. Time-Life staffer. Key partner in a leading Wall Street brokerage. Chairman of the American Stock Exchange. Chairman of the NYC Economic
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The Blue & The G ray
Development Corporation. Past owner of Roll Call, a newspaper covering Capitol Hill. Longest-serving chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Author of Take on The Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don’t Want You To Know/What You
Can Do to Fight Back. Senior advisor at The Carlyle Group. Writer of a recent New York Times op-ed entitled, “Don't Gut the SEC!” These are just a few of the many accomplishments of one of Poly Prep’s most distinguished alumni, Arthur Levitt Jr., a Brooklyn native and member of the Class of ’48. Yet Levitt describes his time on The Polygon, starting in his sophomore year, as “the single most defining experience of my life during school and the 1940s.” (Levitt cited his participation in Poly’s Bearns public speaking contest as seminal, too.) It would be hard to imagine a more emphatic testament to the value of after-school activities from a man who might reasonably be expected to have forgotten his youthful stint on a high school newspaper. Inspired by his maternal uncle, the editor of the Hearst Corporation’s The American Weekly, Levitt developed his interest in journalism early. At Poly, the sense of achievement involved in producing a weekly paper, the camaraderie with peers, and the mentoring from Poly’s legendary English teacher and Polygon advisor Dr. Miles Kastendieck seems to have energized Levitt to try out for editor-inchief his senior year. In a savvy scoop, Levitt recounted how he took the subway to Harlem to interview Father Divine, a well-known evangelical and African American leader of the era, and to hear him preach. Levitt then wrote up his interview for The Polygon, which won him the job at the helm of the paper. Clearly, then, Levitt not only developed writing and editing skills at the paper, he also honed some of the bold leadership skills that served him—and our country— so well during his time in public service. Perhaps, too, Levitt’s Polygon experience— and the school’s memorable teachers—helped shape his summation of the value of a Poly education: “It’s a school that encourages a passionate curiosity about everything, stretches your limits , and equips you to do almost anything.” His own varied and remarkable career bears out those claims—which we believe still hold true today.