Michael Ilitch (1929 - 2017)

Born 20 Jul 1929 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States

Died 10 Feb 2017 at age 87 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States

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Biography

Mike Ilitch is Notable.

Businessman, Sports Magnate. He was well known as the founder and owner of the fast food franchise Little Caesars Pizza as well as the owner of both the National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings and Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years and later played minor league baseball before a knee injury ended his playing career. In 1959 he, along with his wife Marian, started a pizza business Little Caesars Pizza Treat in Garden City, Michigan, which would later grow worldwide to what Little Caesars Pizza is today. He would also become one of the richest Americans on Forbes Magazine's annual list. His first foray into sports ownership was in 1977 when he started the Detroit Caesars of the American Professional Slow Pitch Softball League. The team earned two World Series titles before disbanding two years later. In 1982 he bought the NHL hockey team Detroit Red Wings and during his ownership, the team has been very successful, perennially contending for the Stanley Cup and winning it four times. Ten years later he purchased the Detroit Tigers and during his tenure as their owner, has moved the team into a state of the art ballpark Comerica Park and turned them into one of the more successful clubs in Major League Baseball. He also was an early owner of the Detroit Drive of the Arena Football League. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003 and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame the next year. He and his wife Marian have been very philanthropic throughout their professional life. He was also at the center of redeveloping downtown Detroit, restoring the famed Fox Theatre and relocating his business headquarters

Sources

• Where The Record Is Found (Citation)

"United States Census, 1930", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X7ML-WSJ : Sun Mar 10 17:25:57 UTC 2024), Entry for Samuel J Ylitch and Sultana Ylitch, 1930.