Luckman, Charles (1909–1999)

US corporate executive and architect. 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 in California and headed development ventures whose projects included Madison Square Garden in New York City, Prudential Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Manned Space Craft Center in Houston, Texas. Luckman was born in Kansas City, Missouri.