Members of the second and third generation of Levin family members in one of M. Levin’s first pressurized banana-ripening rooms in the late 1980s. Martin Levin (second generation), David Levin (third generation), Michael Levin (third generation), Mark Levin (third generation), Joel Segel (third generation) and Leon Levin (second generation).In 1906, Michael Levin came to the United States from Lithuania and began huckstering bananas soon after his arrival. More than a century later, the Levin family remains a thriving entity in the banana business.

Mark Levin, grandson of Michael Levin and co-owner of M. Levin & Co., located on the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, told The Produce News that his grandfather Photo circa 1930 at the old Philadelphia produce market area on Dock Street, the site where Michael Levin, founder of M. Levin & Co. Inc., first began banana ripening.started selling bananas with a horse-drawn wagon in the Delaware River area, noting “those were the great days of the hucksters.”

After a few years, Michael Levin moved his business into a larger location: a basement on Dock Street with two banana rooms. By 1912, his reputation, ability and integrity had grown so that the Atlantic Fruit Co. turned its largest jobbing house, also on Dock Street, over to him. This location had only three rooms, but it sold more bananas than any other banana house in the city. By the mid-1920s, he and his brothers had developed the largest banana business in the eastern United States.

During the Great Depression, M. Levin & Co. found itself in deep debt from extending credit to companies who could not pay their bills. Following that era, Michael, along with his four sons, Leon, Martin, Albert and Ralph, began to rebuild the business. Part of the company’s restructuring plan was to import bananas into Florida from Cuba and Haiti.

Michael and his son, Leon, set up shop in Miami and began sending bananas to Philadelphia by boxcar, where the other three brothers would ripen and distribute them.

In the mid-1950s, companies, including M. Levin & Co., that were located at the Dock Street produce area decided to move Michael Levin (left) in 1945 shipping a truckload of bananas from Miami to Philadelphia to be sold at M. Levin.to what was then the new state-of-the-art Philadelphia Produce Terminal Market on Packer Avenue in South Philadelphia. M. Levin & Co. also built a 200,000-square-foot warehouse for banana ripening directly across the street from the market.

When Michael Levin died in 1958, his sons divided the responsibilities of running the business. In 1959, M. Levin & Co. moved its headquarters adjacent to the Philadelphia Terminal Produce Market on Pattison Avenue.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the third generation of Levins — Mark Levin, Michael Levin, David Levin and Joel Segel — entered the business, and they continue to oversee the operation today. This generation again divided the responsibilities among themselves, and the company continued to prosper.

In 1988, Leon Levin, who was known to be modest and unassuming, stated, “Everyone around here knows more than I do.”

Workers at M. Levin packaging bananas into boxes to go off to the stores in the mid-1950s.Mark Levin said, “If that was case, he was an outstanding teacher. Along with his brothers, Leon came up through hard times and had witnessed the major changes that the produce industry had gone through. From manpower and horsepower to mechanization and computerization, the world — and the produce industry along with it — had changed dramatically.”

Throughout every past Levin generation, only men have owned and operated M. Levin & Co., but that changed in the 1990s.

“Two fourth-generation members joined the firm in the 1990s, and two others joined in the past decade,” said Mr. Levin. “And this fourth generation is all women.”

Margie Levin-Fischman, Michael’s daughter, and Brenda Segel, Joel’s daughter, started working at the company in the 1990s. Margie is in the company’s foodservice division and Brenda is in inventory control.

“Tracie Levin, my daughter, joined the company in 2006 after graduating from the University of Delaware,” said Mark Levin. “She has been involved in both United Fresh and the Produce Marketing Association’s leadership development programs since she began with the company. She works in operations management and new business development.”

Michael Levin (bottom left) signs documents to begin the building of M. Levin & Co.’s Pattison Ave. warehouse. Others pictured (from clockwise top left): former city council President James (H.J.) Tate, Mayor Richardson Dilworth and R. Stewart Rauch Jr., president of the Food Distribution Center.The most recent addition to the fourth generation of Levins is David’s daughter, Sarah Levin, who joined the firm in 2009 after graduating from West Chester University. Sarah is involved in the company’s banana-ripening division.

“As a company, M. Levin realizes the importance of widening the scope of the fourth generation in order for them to truly understand the produce industry,” said Mr. Levin. “All four women are working together to update the business to today’s standards. Women are an integral part of the business world today.”

He added that these women view the constantly evolving food-safety issues as a future challenge, and they are proactively working toward their goal of bringing the company into full compliance with third-party food-safety audits.

“As a group, they see this as something that will set them apart from others who are slower to adapt in this fast-changing industry,” said Mr. Levin. “The fourth generation is also more adept than former generations when it comes to technology. In the past few years these women have been involved in transitioning the company into a new computer system that allows us to operate more efficiently, and allows for greater traceability features than the prior system allowed.”

The fourth generation of Levins aboard the Dole Chile container ship in 2011 when the group went to check out a shipment of bananas that they were receiving. Pictured are Sarah Levin, Margie Fischman, Brenda Segel, Tracie Levin and Joe McGowan, a longtime banana plant manager.This generation at M. Levin also recognizes the value in social media. The women are involved in creating the company’s first website, which they hope to have up and running in the near future. They have also created a Facebook page for M. Levin & Co. Inc., enabling others in the industry to stay in touch with what is happening at the company.

“They will also be the ones to modernize the business by bringing their new ideas to the table,” said Mr. Levin. “They will grow and develop their own skills as they are furthering the M. Levin & Co. tradition of high quality, outstanding service and loyalty.”

In June 2011, the firm made yet another pioneering move when it joined 24 other produce wholesalers in taking space at the new Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market on Essington Avenue in southwestern Philadelphia. The company took four units in the ultra-modern market, and it built six state-of-the-art ripening rooms, which are enabling it to further expand its ripening capabilities. It continues to also operate out of its warehouse facility on Pattison Avenue.

“The new ripening rooms have enabled us to branch out and ripen products other than bananas,” said Mr. Levin. “Since the new rooms were completed in August 2011, we have begun to ripen avocados and other fruit, such as mangos and tomatoes, in a larger capacity than before.”

The third generation of Levins standing in front of some pallets of bananas in M. Levin & Co.’s Essington Ave. location in 2011. Pictured are Michael Levin, David Levin, Mark Levin and Joel Segel.He also noted that increased interest in its ripening facility has sparked interest from both its shippers and customers, adding “People like freshness in produce, and by ripening to order we provide our customers with the benefit of having fruit ripened to their specifications as needed. Not only are our fruits and vegetables the freshest they can be, but they are also ripened for flavor and taste.”

Today, M. Levin & Co. is still recognized as one of the larger jobber-wholesalers of bananas in North America, and it is one of the larger distributors of tropical produce in the area. It carries a full line of domestic and imported fruits and vegetables, and it handles juices and other beverages, peanuts, seasonal items, value-added products and an assortment of paper products to complement retail produce departments.

The company ships as far north as Canada, as far west as Chicago and as far south as Virginia. Its Pattison Avenue warehouse also has railcar access, which allows for full car lots of potatoes and onions on a daily basis.

“With the fourth generation being taught from the best, combined with their shared direct bloodline with their predecessors, there is little doubt that these four women will move the company forward and show the boys how it’s really done these days,” said Mr. Levin.

“This year, M. Levin & Co. is celebrating its 106th year in business,” he continued. “We would like to thank everyone we have worked with throughout the years, and especially here in Philadelphia, for helping to keep our business ‘growing’ strong.”