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Leonard Norman Stern is the Chairman and CEO of the privately owned Hartz Group based in New York City. more...

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Additionally, he oversees operations of the extensive Hartz real estate portfolio owned and operated under its Hartz Mountain Industries subsidiary company, of which he also serves as Chairman and CEO. Under his forty plus years of leadership, Hartz Mountain Industries, which began as a hobby for Stern, aquiring land in New Jersey's Meadowlands during the 1950s and 60s, has built and currently owns over 38 million square feet of office, industrial, hotel and retail properties in over 200 buildings, including major developments on the New Jersey Hudson River waterfront, and across northern New Jersey. Based in Secaucus, NJ, Hartz Mountain Industries has added property in Manhattan, Westchester, NY, Long Island, NY, and Maryland. In addition to its property operations through its 'Industries' subsidiary, The Hartz Group has an active and growing financial operation.

Wealth development

Inheritance

Stern's initial wealth was inherited from his father, Max Stern, who died in the early 1980s. 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 U.S. in the 1920s after his textile business proved unprofitable, bringing along 2,100 canaries from Germany to sell on the U.S. market. By selling caged birds, bird cages and other pet bird supplies to U.S. pet owners through Woolworth's stores over the next thirty years, Stern's father built up the family business: Hartz Mountain Corporation (HMC), also headquarted in Secaucus, NJ. HMC would later grow to become the flagship subsidiary of The Hartz Group. The business was named after the Harz Mountains of Germany.

Control and growth of Hartz Mountain Corporation (HMC) -- (the pet products side of the business)

Leonard Stern graduated from NYU in 1957, purchased his brother's and sister's share of the family business and, by the early 1960s, exercised absolute control of Hartz Mountain Corporation (HMC). Hartz Mountain Corporation then began to use monopolistic techniques to capture the pet supply market that catered to both dog and cat owners and parakeet and canary owners. He rapidly broadened Hartz' distribution channels from variety stores into more than 30,000 supermarkets and mass merchandisers. Under his leadership, the "Hartz" trademark became the most widely known and respected pet supply brand in America, and America's leading manufacturer of pet supplies.

By 1984, Hartz Mountain Corporation (HMC) controlled 75% to 90% of the U.S. market for most U.S. pet supply goods. Its pet supply business was estimated to be worth $400 million and was earning $40 million in annual profits.

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