Lebow, Fred

▪ 1995

      (FISCHL LEBOWITZ), Romanian-born sports figure (b. June 3, 1932, Arad, Rom.—d. Oct. 9, 1994, New York, N.Y.), was a visionary and ambitious organizer who built the New York City Marathon—the first such race of its kind—from a small contest with limited appeal to a premier event, attracting thousands of international participants. Lebow, an Orthodox Jew, immigrated to the U.S. during the 1960s. He left Nazi-occupied Romania before the Soviet occupation at the end of World War II and lived in Czechoslovakia, The Netherlands, and Ireland before finding a permanent home in New York City. He worked in the garment district and became a distance runner to gain stamina for playing tennis. In 1970, with $300 of his own capital, Lebow initiated the first New York City Marathon, which involved about 127 runners in four circumnavigations of Central Park. Six years later, he expanded the race to include all five of New York City's boroughs, and some 2,000 runners covered the course. In 1985 the event was the largest marathon in the world. Lebow, who was stricken with brain cancer in 1990, nonetheless organized and ran in the 1992 marathon while battling the disease. He was inducted into the U.S. National Track Hall of Fame shortly before his death.

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