Leon Levine, who built a personal fortune as the founder of the Family Dollar discount retail chain and went on to become one of Charlotte’s most generous philanthropists, has died at age 85, his family foundation confirmed to CBJ Wednesday.
Levine opened his first Family Dollar store in 1959 on Central Avenue. From there, he began building a retail empire, taking the company public in 1970.
By the time he retired in 2003, Matthews-based Family Dollar boasted annual sales of $4.75 billion and 5,000 stores across the U.S.
His son, Howard, replaced him as the company’s top executive. In 2015, rival discount chain Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) bought Family Dollar for $10 billion.
By that time, Leon Levine and his wife, Sandra, had turned their attention to full-time philanthropy, putting their money into a range of causes and stamping their names on projects that would likely have never come to be without their gifts.
Notable examples include the city-owned $127 million Levine Center for the Arts cultural campus opened in 2009 on South Tryon Street, helped by a $15 million gift from the Levines. There are also the Sandra and Leon Levine Jewish Community Center; Atrium Health’s Levine Cancer Institute, which received $20 million from the foundation; Levine Children’s Hospital at Carolinas Medical Center ($10 million); the Levine Museum of the New South; and The Levine Scholars Program at UNC Charlotte, among many others. Queens University is home to the 1,000-seat Sandra Levine Theatre and the 145,000-square-foot Levine Center for Wellness and Recreation.
According to the foundation, by 2020, 40 years after it started, total grants awarded surpassed $300 million. The foundation’s assets exceed $500 million.
The Levines also made good on challenge grants for various community funds and projects and kick-started The Critical Need Response Fund with the Foundation For The Carolinas in response to the Great Recession.
Levine was also an initial investor in the Carolina Panthers NFL franchise, part of team founder Jerry Richardson’s ownership group throughout its 25-year duration. David Tepper bought out Richardson and all his partners in 2018.
Michael Marsicano, retired CEO of Foundation For The Carolinas, who collaborated with Levine on multiple projects, told CBJ, “Leon Levine changed the course of philanthropy in our city with the breadth and depth of his generosity. He considered his work at the foundation, graced with his name, as a second career.
“My good friend and partner threw himself into charitable endeavors with as much passion and commitment as he built his business. Leone Levine was a philanthropic and corporate titan. All of us mourn his passing, yet rejoice in his legacy.”
