Leonard I. Green

Leonard I. Green (1934–2002) was an American businessman who was the founding partner of leveraged buyout firm Leonard Green & Partners and chairman of the board of the Los Angeles Opera.

Early life Green was raised in Philadelphia, to a Jewish family. In 1965, he received a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University in Chicago.

Career In 1969, Green co-founded the New York investment banking partnership, Gibbons, Green, van Amerongen, which specialized in management-led, non-hostile leveraged buyouts. In April 1996, Thrifty Payless went public and then in October 1996, it was sold to Rite Aid for $2.3 billion netting Green's firm a $420 million profit.

Philanthropy In 1986, Green became a founding director of Los Angeles Opera serving as its president and chief executive from 1998 to 2001. He personally donated $2 million to the opera and was credited with recruiting Plácido Domingo as artistic director. Green has two children.

Green died in 2002.