Levy was born in Hamburg, Germany and received a doctorate in law from Kiel University in 1933. He left Germany shortly thereafter due to the growing Nazi influence and moved to London to work for the "Petroleum Press Service," a journal of petroleum economics. He emigrated to New York in 1941 and worked briefly as a petroleum writer for "Fortune" magazine. In 1942 he joined the U.S. Office of Strategic Services as a petroleum advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. From 1948 to 1949 he was chief of the petroleum branch of the Economic Cooperation Administration, an agency of the Marshall Plan. In 1949 Levy established his own oil consulting firm, W.J. Levy Consulting Corp., in New York City. In addition to his regular consulting duties, he has acted as an advisor to the Truman, Kennedy, and Nixon administrations; the United Nations; and the European Economic Community. Levy served as an advisor to envoy W. Averell Harriman from 1951 to 1953 after Iran nationalized its oil facilities in 1951. In 1963, Levy served as an advisor to Kentucky Lieutenant Governor Wilson Wyatt, who had been appointed by President Kennedy to negotiate an agreement between the government of Indonesia and oil companies from the United States.
From the guide to the Walter J. Levy Papers, 1911-1988, (University of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.)
