WASHINGTON, (MILLAT/APP/AFP) – Mike Ilitch, owner of baseball’s Detroit Tigers and the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, died on Friday at the age
of 87, his company Ilitch Holdings said.
Ilitch, the son of Macedonian immigrants, opened his first Little Caesars pizza restaurant with his wife, Marian, in 1959 in the working
class Detroit suburb of Garden City.
He built the business into an empire that included restaurants
as well as the two elite sports teams.
The Red Wings were struggling when he bought them for a reported $8 million in 1982. But under Ilitch’s stewardship they won the Stanley Cup in 1997 and 1998 as well as in 2002 and 2008.
Ilitch was inducted into the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003 and the US Hockey Hall of Fame and Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
“With the passing of Mike Ilitch, the Red Wings have lost the consummate owner, the National Hockey League has lost a cherished friend and passionate builder, Detroit sports has lost a legend and the city of Detroit has lost not only a devoted native son but a visionary and driving force in the rebirth of downtown,” commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.