Noted muni bond investor James Lebenthal dies: family

NEW YORK (Reuters) - James Lebenthal, the U.S. municipal bond market's biggest champion, has died following a heart attack at age 86, his daughter said on Friday. Lebenthal became a force in the New York municipal bond market in the 1970s, selling to retail investors for decades via radio and TV commercials. "No one loved municipal bonds and their value as the tool for rebuilding America more than Dad," his daughter Alexandra Lebenthal said via email. "He was a Wall Street legend and his legacy will live on." In old television and radio ads, he used lines such as "tax-free municipal bonds are my babies" and called himself "Built by Bonds Lebenthal." He glorified munis as "the nuts and bolts that make New York great," showing images of South Bronx rebuilding its once burned-out buildings using municipal bonds. He was also a filmmaker, producing a short movie in 1958 called "T is for Tumbleweed." Later, as munis' biggest champion, he starred in short animated films about muni bonds with titles like "Lord Love a Turnpike." "He was a giant of our industry," said Richard Ciccarone, head of Iowa-based Merritt Research Services. "He provided a lot of good will for the industry on telling people not just about the tax value but how munis were used to serve America." Though his firm was focused on the mid-Atlantic region, “his presence was felt throughout America,” Ciccarone said. (Reporting by Megan Davies and Hilary Russ; Editing by James Dalgleish)