Leonard I. Green
1933-2002

HISTORY

Our Founder

Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. was founded in 1989 by Leonard I. Green. Leonard was a pioneer in the development of the leveraged buyout industry.

In 1969, Leonard and two partners established Gibbons, Green van Amerongen (GGvA), one of the first New York-based merchant banking firms whose sole activity was management-led, non-hostile leveraged buyouts. In 1981, Leonard opened GGvA’s Los Angeles office and later that year, helped organize GGvA’s first capital pool that would later serve as a model for our first fund.

While at GGvA, Leonard participated in buyouts of 30 firms. Among the transactions he directed were the purchase of Budget Rent-A-Car Corp., Foodmaker, Inc., Horace Mann Educators Corporation, Kash n’ Karry Food Stores, Inc. and Purex Industries.

Our founding partner, Leonard I. Green, died in October 2002.