David attended New Plymouth Boys’ High School as a boarder from 1943 to 1946. It took him a while to get used to being a single member of a large group, but eventually he enjoyed boarding school and made many friends. He said it was a particularly good experience, it certainly straightened him out, and gave him siblings.
His best subject was mathematics and he developed some mastery in Latin. In his first few weeks at New Plymouth Boys High School David set himself some goals: to pass the university entrance exam, to represent the school in rugby and to be a prefect. He attained every one; was on 3 committees, played for the first fifteen and was a Boarding Prefect of Pridham House.
In the school holidays David worked in his father and uncle’s paint shop Levene and Co. in Auckland. He filled bottles and tins with turpentine, weighed out putty and served the customers. When he left school he wanted to become a chemist but found the work unsatisfying so his father suggested he join him at the paint shop, which he did. He soon became a successful businessman running the company which he took over in 1952 at the age of 22. David expanded the business by opening retail stores around Auckland, selling paint and wallpaper directly to contractors.
After a trip to the United States in 1959 to study retail practices and encouraged by the ideas of a US businessman, he diversified the company into a major force in New Zealand retailing. He opened a paint factory in Otara having his product sold directly through his Levene stores. His stores diversified into a lifestyle business making Levene and Co. a large well known NZ business.
David sold Levene and Co. in 1994 which included 52 stores throughout NZ and paint and wallpaper factories. Not long after, he established Lewis Holdings, named in honour of his father to invest in start-up businesses, property development and management companies from which Quadrant Properties was formed.
David believed giving time was just as important as giving money. Through the David Levene Foundation he supported several charities with educational and sporting organisations and medical fields benefitting from his philanthropy. Including; co-funding a professorship in neurology at Auckland University, bursaries for students at Massey University of financial hardship, donations to about 300 charities including scholarship funds, support for the neurological foundation and was Patron of the Parkinson’s Society, backer of the Halberg Trust, and financial supporter of golfer Lydia Ko. David helped establish and sponsor students to undertake Outward Bound Courses and had been the Trust’s Director and Patron over the years.
In the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours David was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, and in 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours he was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, both for services to business and the community.
In 1995, David received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree by Massey University. In 2014 received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Auckland and in 2006 was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.
David’s outlook on life, his views on philanthropy and his success as a businessman were greatly shaped by those early days. “I don’t like to see waste. My dad, even though we had absolutely nothing, he would always help people financially”. A factor that shaped David for life. Being good to people and his staff was important. The rule was; “everybody called me David, and we had a very open, happy culture”.
David passed away on 11th August 2021 at his home in Auckland, eight days before his 92nd birthday.
RIP Sir David