Background
Stern was born to a Jewish family, the son of Hilda (née Lowenthal) and Max Stern.
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Leonard Norman
Edit ProfileBusinessman chairman founder philanthropist
Education
In 1957, Stern graduated from New York University (New York University).
Career
He is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the privately owned Hartz Group based in New York City. The company"s real estate portfolio was owned and operated under its Hartz Mountain Industries subsidiary company, of which he is also chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Max Stern was the German-born vice-chairman of the board of trustees of Yeshiva University for whom its Stern College for Women was named. He had emigrated from Weimar Germany to the United States. in the 1920s after his textile business proved unprofitable, bringing along 2,100 canaries from Germany to sell on the United States. market.
By selling caged birds, bird cages and other pet bird supplies to United States. pet owners through Woolworth"s stores over the next thirty years, Stern"s father built up the family business: Hartz Mountain Corporation (HMC), also headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey. HMC later grew to become the flagship subsidiary of The Hartz Group.
The business was named after the Harz Mountains of Germany. Stern"s initial wealth was inherited from his father who died in 1982.
He gradually purchased his brother"s and sister"s share of the family business, Hartz Mountain, and by the early 1960s, exercised absolute control of Hartz Mountain Corporation (HMC). Hartz Mountain Corporation then began to capture the pet supply market that catered to both dog and cat owners and parakeet and canary owners.
By 1984, Hartz Mountain Corporation (HMC) controlled 75% to 90% of the United States. market for most United States. pet supply goods.
Its pet supply business was estimated to be worth $400 million and was earning $40 million in annual profits. Stern was named in several class action suits in which investors claimed that he and other directors had breached their fiduciary duty to shareholders. Rite Aid settled that suit in 1999 for $11 million.
Stern resigned from the board in late 2001.
According to the article, he "brushes all of this aside: "We saved that company from bankruptcy. We threw out the old management and brought in the new and set it on its turnaround" ".
According to its website, it serves over 630 homeless families and over 1,200 homeless children each day at five separate sites across New York City.
Achievements
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A separate lawsuit, filed by Kevin Mann, the son of the original founder and former executive vice-president, alleged that Stern used his influence to increase shelf space in Rite Aid stores for Hartz"s pet products at the expense of competitors. He was the founder in 1986 and is chairman of Homes for the Homeless.
Membership
According to the unsigned cover article, "Dynasty In Distress" in the February 9, 2004 issue of Business Week, Stern was "intensely engaged" as a board member of Rite Aid in the mid-to-late "90s when the drugstore chain admitted to overstating Netto income by $1 billion over two years.
