Luckman, Charles

Luckman, Charles (1909–  ) corporate executive, architect; born in Kansas City, Mo. He was an executive and then president of Pepsodent (1943–46) and its parent, Lever Bros. (1946–50). He hired architects, Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, to design Lever House in New York; at his request they designed an elevated building that left most of the street level open to pedestrians and created the illusion of a floating form for the award-winning skyscraper. Originally trained as an architect, he returned to his Los Angeles-based architecture practice and headed development ventures whose projects included Madison Square Garden, New York; Prudential Center, Boston; and the Manned Space Craft Center, Houston.