As Chairman and CEO of Hartz Mountain Industry and Hartz Group, Leonard Stern began the Hartz Mountain’s real estate operations in 1966 when he started to purchase land in New Jersey’s Meadowlands. In 1987, the Hartz Mountain Industries subsidiary also completed a 24-story luxury office tower on Madison Avenue, where Hartz Group’s corporate offices moved. Stern is also the founder of Homes for the Homeless, the largest non-profit provider of residential, employment and education training centers in the country.