Joel Levitt, 61, started successful multimedia business

JOEL LEVITT was beginning to think he was the family failure.

In the very competitive Levitt family, he saw his twin brother, Richie, become a periodontist, brother Jerry a senior anesthesiologist at Hahnemann, and brother Harvey a successful real estate lawyer.

But in reality, Joel had nothing to be ashamed of. He had a 25-year career at Channel 17, where he rose from a security guard and night-shift phone answerer to cameraman, director and production manager, and became a pioneer in Philadelphia sports broadcasting.

That was just a warm-up. When he was let go from Channel 17 after it was bought by Taft Broadcasting in 1987, and his next company, High Speed Video Inc. of Malvern, moved to Detroit, Joel saw opportunity rising Phoenix-like from the ashes.

By mortgaging his house and borrowing money from family members - "I didn't have any luck borrowing from banks," he said - he started Action Duplication Inc. in 1990 in his basement, which grew to become one of the nation's busiest full-service multimedia manufacturers.

Joel Levitt, who always found time for his family, community service, travel and sports while building his business, died Thursday after an eight-month battle with brain cancer. He was 61 and lived in Melrose Park.

Action Duplication, now located in West Conshohocken, became one of the few companies worldwide to manufacture DVDs, compact discs and run high-speed VHS duplication.

His son, Chad Levitt, who was a star fullback for Cornell and played four years in the National Football League, said he recalls sitting on the beach at Margate with his father after his illness had been diagnosed last summer.

"He told me that if he were to have to leave this earth tomorrow, there wasn't a single important thing that he wanted to accomplish in his life that he hadn't already done," Chad said.

His father grew up in a roughhouse environment with his brothers. One of their favorite sports was to take turns riding a moped across the back yard while the other brothers shot at the rider with BB guns.

"It wasn't until my Dad started the business in 1990 that he really got the satisfaction of career achievement that he had desired so much," Chad said.

Joel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in English. He then went to work for Channel 17.

As production manager, he was in the booth when the Phillies won the World Series in 1980 and when the 76ers won the world championship in 1983.

When all that ended abruptly with the sale of the station, "he felt betrayed," his son said. "That feeling of being used was the motivating force that led his entrepreneurial spirit to go into business for himself in 1990."

Joel was past president of the American Independent Media Manufacturers Association and was a board member of the Philadelphia Police Athletic League. He orchestrated the audio/video presentations during PAL's annual banquets.

He supported a number of charitable organizations, and was active with Congregation Rodeph Shalom.

"Dad was never too busy to drop whatever he was doing, even after a long hard day at work, to proofread an English paper for us or help build a science project," Chad said.

He enjoyed family trips to London, Cancun, touring the Southwestern U.S. in the summer and skiing the Colorado mountains in the winter.

"Dad, you were an amazing human being and the world was blessed to experience your soul," his son said in a eulogy.

Besides his son and brothers, he is survived by his wife of 40 years, Patsy Asam Levitt; his mother, Nettie Levitt Weiss; another son, Adam; a daughter, Sara Levitt Cooper, and one granddaughter, Farren.

Services: 2 p.m. today at Goldsteins' Rosenberg's Raphael Sacks, 6410 N. Broad St. Burial will be in Roosevelt Memorial Park, Trevose. *