UA’s New College Welcomes Wholesale Foods Innovator for Distinguished Alumni Lecture

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Jeff Levitetz, the innovative entrepreneur who founded Purity Wholesale Grocers, will deliver the Distinguished Alumni Lecture for The University of Alabama’s New College at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 17, in 205 Smith Hall.

The lecture is free and open to the public. The title of the lecture is “A Common Sense Approach for Doing Business and Living Your Life.”

In the later 1970s, Levitetz was a student at UA’s New College and a budding entrepreneur. He shaped a number of independent study projects to research the retail grocery and health and beauty products industry. After running a number of small Tuscaloosa and campus-based businesses, he borrowed $15,000 and began the journey that became Purity Wholesale Groceries.

Using a number of innovations in supply chain management and the bundling of discounts traditionally offered only to the largest retailers, Purity built a niche in the supply of small- and medium-sized stores and chains. By the 1990s, Purity had become a major player in retail wholesale and grown to a nationwide network of more than a dozen companies.

Now based in Boca Raton, Fla., Purity has more than $1 billion in sales annually, employs more than 500 people and is regularly ranked among the largest privately owned companies in Florida. In 2000, Peterson’s included Purity in its list of “Best Companies to Work For,” and Forbes regularly lists it among its top 150 privately owned companies.

At Alabama, Levitetz wrestled on a team led by coach Pat Milkovich and has remained active in the promotion and support of U.S. Olympic wrestling. Levitetz serves as a member of USA Wrestling’s board of directors, as team leader of the U.S. Olympic Team for Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. In 2002, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame named him an Outstanding American, and in 2004, he was named USA Wrestling’s Man of the Year.

Both the Levitetz family and Purity have been active in national and Florida-based philanthropy, including establishing the JRC Scholarship Fund and Children’s Charities and a youth life-skills program “Handshake University.”

New College, a part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, is an interdisciplinary liberal arts program where students craft individualized courses of study consistent with their interests, aptitude, temperament and skills. Each student, with the assistance of a faculty mentor, builds a course of study that includes traditional coursework, community-based learning, undergraduate research opportunities and self-directed study.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.