A native of Lynn, Massachusetts, he was the youngest of eleven siblings.
He then served as a United States Navy reservist for two years, and earned a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1949.
[3] Leavitt's tenure as principal of the Management Analysis Center began in 1971.
Additionally, he was an adviser to the National Training Laboratories.
[4] In retirement, Leavitt relocated to Pasadena, California,[1] and died of pulmonary fibrosis in the city's Huntington Memorial Hospital on 8 December 2007, aged 85.