Neil David Levin, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, died at the World Trade Center complex on September 11, 2001. His position made him landlord of the World Trade Center complex, as well as operator of the New York City area's three major airports and its port facilities, bridges, tunnels, and the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rapid transit system. Levin was a political appointee, and administering all these facilities was a difficult and demanding job.
Levin's training was as an economist. He was born in 1955 and raised in Atlantic Beach, New York. After graduation from high school, Levin attended Lafayette College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics. His next academic degree was an MBA from the C. W. Post Center of Long Island University's Graduate School of Business. Levin finished his academic training by earning a law degree from Hofstra University. In his first job he worked as counsel to the securities subcommittee of the U. S. Senate Banking Committee, where he worked closely with Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato. Part of his job involved helping to draft the Insider Trading Sanctions Act of 1984. He spent seven years as chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board of New York, and then joined Goldman Sachs & Company, where he became a vice president after two years with the company.
Levin's close ties with Republican politicians in New York advanced his career. Governor George Pataki appointed Levin New York State superintendent of banks. This position gave him oversight responsibility for 4,500 banks, thrifts, and other financial institutions in the state of New York. Governor Pataki later appointed Levin superintendent of the State Insurance Department and head of the Commission on the Recovery of Holocaust Victims' Assets.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was Levin's next assignment. Some controversy had surrounded his predecessor, but when New York governor Pataki and New Jersey governor Donald DiFrancesco jointly appointed Levin executive director in spring 2001, there was no controversy. Levin had earned a reputation as a consensus builder, which enabled him to function smoothly with other politicians. His relationship with Mayor Rudy Giuliani was particularly important. It did not hurt that Levin had married Christine Ann Ferer in May 1996. She was an NBC broadcast journalist, and a public personality in her own right.
On September 11, 2001, Levin was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, like so many other victims of the day. His office was on the 64th floor of the North
Tower of the World Trade Center complex. Although American Airlines Flight 11 hit the tower above this floor, Levin was in a breakfast meeting with Fred V. Morrone, the Port Authority's police superintendent, in the Windows on the World restaurant on the 107th floor of the North Tower. Levin was trapped, like all of those on floors above where the plane crashed. His wife frantically tried to reach him but without success. There was no chance of escape, and Levin and Morrone evidently died when the North Tower collapsed. Levin's body has never been found.
Levin's wife has become active in the Families of September 11 movement. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed her to a position of liaison with the families who are victims of September 11, placing her in the middle of the family groups' criticism of the mayor's office. Governor Pataki honored Levin by naming a program of the State University of New York the Neil D. Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce.
Stephen E. Atkins
See also American Airlines Flight 11; Giuliani, Rudolph William Louis, III; Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Suggested Reading
Smothers, Ronald. “Pataki Names State Official as Port Authority's Chief.” New York Times, March 31, 2001, B6.
Wyatt, Edward. “Neil Levin, Executive Director of Bistate Port Authority, 46.” New York Times, September 22, 2001, A5.
World History
