Samuel H. Levinson*

Samuel Levinson was born in 1919 and grew up in Cincinnati. His father owned a furniture business that eked out a meager living for the family. Looking back on those years, Levinson said, "It was very good for all of us to think that things were dicey and that you had to fight for survival, it kept you from being too frightened." To help out, Levinson worked as a soda jerk, a truck driver, and a magazine salesman throughout his high school and college years. He attended the University of Cincinnati, where the tuition was $50 a semester, and he earned a degree in economics.

Levinson began training for the law in 1940 but was drafted a year later. During his five years in the U.S. Army, he was responsible for feeding troops in the China-Burma theater and for building, maintaining, and supplying B-29 airfields there. When he returned to the United States, he felt he was no longer cut out to be a lawyer. After a marketing business he had started with two friends was dissolved, Levinson became sales manager for Alabe Crafts, a toy manufacturer. Three years later, he left to go into partnership with an insurance agent. They eventually developed two companies and three agencies with $20 million in assets.

In 1956, Levinson went into business with a newly developed electronic device that could weigh coupled railroad cars in motion. By 1975, the company had expanded into 30 countries on five continents. In 1979, the company, Railweight, Inc., merged with Mangood Corporation, where Levinson served as director and vice president until 1983. His own company, Samuel Levinson and Associates, Inc., helped U.S. companies transfer technology to businesses in India.

In advising young leaders, Levinson said, "To make your ideas succeed, you need innovation and courage. We've had that in America, and that's why we lead the world. It's very gratifying to be a part of the Horatio Alger Association. I'm proud to be part of a group of people who had the character, purposefulness, and intellect to move ahead in career fields that had a lot of competition."