Courtesy the Detroit Free Press.
One of the few business people who never gave up on Detroit and always believed in its promise.
I met him when I was in middle school when he brought the Stanley Cup to the barbershop that cut my hair. A real great memory that he shared with all of us then.
Detroit Free Press said:Mike Ilitch rose from a humble west-side neighborhood to assemble a food, sports and entertainment empire that enabled him to return the Stanley Cup to Hockeytown, build both a new arena and a ballpark with a Ferris wheel, restore the grandeur of downtowns iconic Fox Theatre and introduce metro Detroit to the concepts of pizza-pizza and an $8 cup of beer.
From his first Little Caesars outlet in Garden City strip mall in 1959 where a pizza cost $2.39 Ilitch, aided at every step by Marian, his wife of 61 years, became a major metro Detroit personality and a key figure in the revival of downtown Detroit. In addition to founding the Little Caesars pizza chain, he owned the Red Wings, Tigers and the Fox Theatre, and operated city-owned Joe Louis, Cobo, and Little Caesars arenas, among other smaller businesses, teams and restaurants.
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Success brought Ilitch and his family fabulous wealth. The 2016 Forbes magazine compilation of the 400 richest Americans listed Mike and Marian Ilitch at No. 88 with a net worth of $5.4 billion. In addition, Marian Ilitch is the sole owner of the Motor City Casino.
But perhaps more important to Ilitch were a different set of statistics: four Stanley Cup championships for his Red Wings, two trips to the World Series for his Detroit Tigers, and a vast number of trophies for team and individual player achievements.
One of the few business people who never gave up on Detroit and always believed in its promise.
I met him when I was in middle school when he brought the Stanley Cup to the barbershop that cut my hair. A real great memory that he shared with all of us then.