Dentist and educator.  Born April 23, 1915 in Brooklyn, New York, Leavitt was educated at the University of Oklahoma (B.S. 1936) and the Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery (D.D.S. 1940).  After World War II military service in the Pacific, he joined Columbia’s dental school faculty on which he served for fifty years. He was the founder of the dental school’s endodontics post-graduate program and served as its director, 1969-1980.  He retired in 1989 and was named an emeritus professor. Leavitt was considered a leader in the field of endodontics and taught and lectured widely on the subject.  He was a diplomate of the American Association of Endodontics and a Fellow of the American College of Dentists.  Leavitt died April 25, 1999 in Waterbury, Connecticut