Bernard Leyden, Shipping Pioneer, Jewish Community Leader Dead At 85

Bernard Leyden, Shipping Pioneer, Jewish Community Leader Dead At 85

By Israel News Agency Staff

New York .... January 24 ....Bernard Leyden, a respected international shipping executive and Jewish philanthropist, has succumbed to cancer at the age of 85..

Leyden, born in Brooklyn, New York to the son an immigrant tailor from Poland, made his way from poverty to wealth through developing modern methods of both sea and air cargo transportation.

It was 50 years ago that Malcom McLean, an entrepreneur from North Carolina, loaded a ship with 58 35-foot containers and sailed from Newark, N.J., to Houston.

Leyden followed McLean in suggesting that containers might make shipping more efficient. The revolutionary concept was to design a transportation system around the packaging of cargo in huge metal boxes that could be loaded and unloaded by cranes.

Container shipping eventually replaced the traditional "break-bulk" method of handling crates, barrels and bags, and stowing them loose in a ship's hold, a system in use since the days of the Phoenicians. Replacing break-bulk with cargo containers dramatically reduced shipping costs, reinvigorating markets and fueling the world economy.

"My father reinforced and sold these new shipping methods to thousands of importers and exporters in the New York region," said his son Joel Leyden.

"He created Leyden Shipping, a freight forwarding company and Leyden Customs, a brokerage firm on Pearl Street in the 1950's to provide transportation services to both the import and export trade. As the Leyden Transportation Group expanded they moved into the World Trade Center and opened additional offices at JFK.

Although he did not invent containerization, he was one of the key global figures to market it – with agents in Europe, South America, the Middle-East and Asia."

Bernard Leyden became a leading figure in the Jewish community.

"My father raised millions of dollars through the International Shipping Division of UJA Federation in New York," said the younger Leyden who resides in Israel and works as an Internet public relations, SEO marketing pioneer and journalist.

"The money my father contributed and raised went to impoverished Jews in the New York area and to the Israel Emergency Fund, which aids Israel during war time. At one point he served as a shipping consultant to Israel's Ministry of Defense."

Leyden says that his father Bernard was a loving and dedicated father.

"My dad grew up in the Great Depression. This left a profound impact on him. He would work 18 hour days to make sure that there was food on the family table. He also had several friends who were Holocaust survivors. He became active in both Temple Shalom in Westbury, New York and volunteered hundreds of hours with the United Jewish Appeal. He became a supporter of several Jewish and Israel organizations including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Magan David Adom and the Simon Wiesenthal Center."

Bernard Leyden overcame a stuttering disorder at an early age to become one of the most effective public speakers for the shipping industry and Israel. Bernard Leyden served as a international shipping consultant to Chase Bank lecturing to hundreds of business leaders.

"My father was a brave and elegant man who understood and was able to reach out to everyone around him. He had a gift of making people smile. He stands as an inspiration today as both a family man and industry leader who created a better quality of life from New York, London and Madrid to Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Paris."

Bernard Leyden, who was married to Helen Katzman, is survived today by his wife Alice, his sons Joel and Bryan, and his grandchildren Lior, David, Amanda, Loren and Brandon.

Bernard, who had resided in both New York City and Palm Beach, Florida, was brother to Tillie and the late Henry Leyden. He was cherished by Alice's children Harry (Laurie) Gray; grandfather to Charlie and Max and Robert (Karen) Gray; grandpa to Caroline and Alexander.

Funeral takes place tomorrow, Sunday, January 25, 2009 12 noon at Riverside Chapel, 55 North Station Plaza, Great Neck, New York.