Background
Felt was born to a Jewish family in Manhattan growing up around West 140th Street. His father was a lawyer
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Irving Mitchell Felt
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Education
At the age of 19, he graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Finance and then took a job with the Wall Street concern, Hayden Stone.
Career
At the age of 28, he left the firm and helped to reorganize the investment firm Graham-Paige. In 1959, with Felt as its president, Graham-Page purchased a controlling interest in the old Madison Square Garden (built 1925). Wanting to replace the old Garden with a new and modern facility that was more flexible, could handle larger crowds, and provided unobstructed views, in November 1960, he quietly purchased from the Pennsylvania Railroad the rights to build at Penn Station.
In July 1961, Felt announced that he would demolish McKim, Mead, and White"s Pennsylvania Station at West 33rd Street and 7th Avenue and build a new Madison Square Garden at the site.
He formed a new company, Madison Square Garden, Incorporated. which was 75% owned by Graham-Page and 25% owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad. From 1960 to 1968, Felt oversaw the project from demolition to completion.
The project was fully privately financed. Despite the controversy generated over the demolition, Felt stated that he "believed that the gain from the new buildings and sports center would more than offset any aesthetic loss" and that "Fifty years from now, when its time for to be torn down, there will be a new group of architects who will protest."
Thereafter, he served as president of the Madison Square Garden Corporation when it purchased the New York Rangers hockey club, the New York Knicks basketball club, Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island, and the ice show production company, Holiday on Ice Productions.
He is known for bringing the "Fight of the Century" between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier to Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971.
He also served on the board of directors of the Metropolitan Opera Association for two decades, he was a founding patron of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and served as a national trustee of the Joffrey Ballet. He was a major fund-raiser for the Senator Jacob Javits of New York and served as campaign chairman in 1990 for Republican congressional candidate Jim Salomon in his race against San Fernando Valley Representative Anthony Beilenson.
