Martin Levin, whose many industry roles included publishing executive, mergers and acquisitions guru, and author, died July 25. He was 97.
Levin first entered the book industry after getting out of the Army in 1950, joining Grosset & Dunlap where he rose to senior v-p. He was recruited in 1966 by Times Mirror to create a publishing arm. During his 17 years there, he acquired companies ranging from law and medical publishers to the then-paperback house, New American Library.
As he neared retirement, Levin enrolled in New York Law School and was admitted into the New York Bar in 1984 at age 65. With his acceptance to the bar, Levin joined the law firm Cowan Liebowitz & Latman, where he helped arrange more than 100 mergers and acquisitions in the book field. In 2011, at age 92, Levin wrote All I Know About Management I Learned from My Dog, which was published by Skyhorse. A follow-up was published a year later.
During his time as an executive, Levin was chairman of the AAP and led publishing delegations to both Russia and China. In 1999, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award from the AAP.
Levin also spent many years teaching about publishing at both New York Law School and the Stanford University Publishing Course; when Stanford ended its program, Levin played an instrumental role in ensuring that Yale took over the course.
A family service is planned for Friday in Sarasota, Fla. A memorial service in New York will be held sometime in the fall.
