Mike Ilitch Has Died
Little Caesars founder bought Tigers, Red Wings, built entertainment empire.
Detroit business magnate Mike Ilitch has died. The founder of Little Caesars opened his first pizza store with his wife Marian in Garden City in 1959. Together, they amassed a fortune. They made enough money to buy two of the city’s major professional sports franchises, the Tigers and the Red Wings.
When Mike Ilitch bought the Red Wings in 1982, the team had reached the NHL playoffs twice in 15 years. They finished at or near the bottom of their division so often, people started calling them the “Dead Wings”. The fortunes of the franchise started turning around when the new owner drafted 18-year-old Canadian Steve Yzerman in 1983. Since then, the Wings have missed the playoffs twice and won four Stanley Cups between 1997 and 2008. Bill Shea, who writes about the business of sports for Crain’s, tells WDET’s Pat Batcheller Ilitch’s venture into pro sports reaped huge dividends.
Ilitch bought the Tigers from one of his pizza rivals, Domino’s founder Tom Monaghan, after the 1992 season. From 1994 to 2005, the team posted 12 straight losing seasons, and lost 119 games in 2003. In 2004, Ilitch and General Manager Dave Dombrowski began to turn the team’s fortunes around when they signed free agent catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, who had just won a 98 with the Florida Marlins. The Tigers won the American League championship in 2006, but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. The team won the AL pennant again in 2012, but was swept by the San Francisco Giants in that year’s World Series.
In 2010, the Ilitches put their son Christopher in charge of Ilitch Holdings, which covers all of the family’s enterprises, including MotorCity Casino Hotel and Olympia Entertainment. Shea says Christopher Ilitch iscontinuing his father’s legacy.
In 2015, Mike and Marian Ilitch donated $40 million to Wayne State University to build a new business school bearing the pizza magnate’s name.
Mike Ilitch was born in Detroit on July 20, 1929. He was 87 when he died on Feb. 10, 2017.
