THOMAS J. LEVERTE

Thomas J. Leverte Age 83, of La Quinta died peacefully on May 23, 2011 in San Diego. He was a beloved and loving husband, father, and grandfather, a successful pharmaceutical executive, and a productive and generous community member. Tom was born on September 28, 1927 in Hackensack, NJ, the son of Muriel Hannon Leverte and Thomas D. Leverte. Raised on Long Island, he was a prolific and outstanding multi-sport athlete in high school. He turned down a contract to play Minor League baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers and chose to attend West Virginia University on a basketball scholarship. After two years at WVU, he transferred to Seton Hall University where he starred on its basketball team and graduated in 1949. During his college career Tom played in multiple National Invitation Tournaments at Madison Square Garden. Before joining the army in the fall of 1950, he played in the Eastern Pro Basketball League and toured the country with the Kokomo Clowns, a New York circus basketball team. Upon his discharge from the army two years later, he began his business career, first with Vestal, Inc. in New York. During these years he joined the New York Athletic Club where he became the youngest member of the club's executive committee. Tom spent his summers in Westhampton Beach, NY where he was a member of the Westhampton Country Club, La Ronde Beach Club and was a founding member of Aspatuck Tennis Club. After Vestal, Tom spent the better part of two decades as a rising executive in Chesebrough-Pond's in New York City and Greenwich, CT. Later he was recruited by Bayer to head its Cutter Laboratories division and relocated with his family to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lived in Belvedere, CA for twenty years until his retirement to La Quinta in 1994. In his later years, he was a devoted congregant of St. Francis of Assisi Church in La Quinta and was a committed and contributing board member of Martha's Village and Kitchen in Indio, CA. Surviving are his loving wife of 49 years, Jean Mitchell Leverte, his three children Kara Farley (Dan) of La Jolla, CA, Cristin Goldman (Ryan) of Mill Valley, CA and T.J. Leverte (Mikelynn) of Tiburon, CA, and five grandchildren: Ryan, Clare, Reed, Leo and Logan. A memorial mass will be held Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 11:00 AM at St. Francis of Assisi Church in La Quinta, CA. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Martha's Village and Kitchen, 83791 Date Avenue, Indio, CA 92201.