Peter Seidler obit

 

Peter Seidler, the San Diego Padres’ relentlessly positive chairman and cheerleader, dies at 63

He was not on the list.

Padres Chairman Peter Seidler, who became a hero to Padres fans for his financial commitment and enthusiasm for the team and for baseball, died Tuesday.

Seidler, who turned 63 last week, had been battling an illness for months. His wife and children were with him when he died. The cause of death was not disclosed.

“The Padres organization mourns the passing of our beloved Chairman and owner, Peter Seidler,” Padres CEO Erik Greupner said in a statement. “Today, our love and prayers encircle Peter’s family as they grieve the loss of an extraordinary husband, father, son, brother, uncle, and friend.”

People began leaving flowers and messages on the stairs inside the Home Plate Gate at Petco Park on Tuesday afternoon, hours after Seidler’s death. The gate was scheduled to remain open until midnight, reopen at 6 a.m. Wednesday and remain open again until midnight. Parking is free in the Tailgate Lot located on Imperial Avenue.

No public memorial has been announced, though the Padres plan to honor Seidler during the 2024 season.

“Peter was a kind and generous man who was devoted to his wife, children, and extended family. He also consistently exhibited heartfelt compassion for others, especially those less fortunate,” Greupner said in his statement. “His impact on the city of San Diego and the baseball world will be felt for generations. His generous spirit is now firmly embedded in the fabric of the Padres. Although he was our Chairman and owner, Peter was at his core a Padres fan. He will be dearly missed.”

Padres pitcher Yu Darvish and his wife paid their respect to Peter Seidelr at a public memorial on the steps of Petco Park Tuesday.

The Padres will take the week to mourn as an organization, setting aside all nonessential business. Their managerial search will be halted temporarily, with a new manager expected to be named next week before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Seidler’s grandfather, Walter O’Malley, moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in 1958, and Seidler’s mother and uncle, Peter O’Malley, owned the team until 1998. Many of Seidler’s most joyous moments as an owner came when the Padres beat the Dodgers, who he once referred to as the “dragon up the freeway that we’re trying to slay.”

In a statement, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said, “I am deeply saddened by the news of Peter’s passing. Peter grew up in a baseball family, and his love of the game was evident throughout his life. He was passionate about owning the Padres and bringing the fans of San Diego a team in which they could always take pride. Peter made sure the Padres were part of community solutions in San Diego, particularly with the homeless community.”

Seidler, who founded Seidler Equity Partners in 1992, was part of the group that bought the Padres in August 2012. He moved to San Diego and quickly became active in philanthropic causes, including working to alleviate homelessness. In large part due to Seidler’s leadership, the Padres Foundation — the team’s charitable organization — increased its annual giving by 1,000 percent.

Seidler became Padres chairman — the team’s principal owner — in November 2020 following the retirement of Ron Fowler.

“This is sad on so many levels,” Fowler said Tuesday. “... He was probably the most positive individual I’ve ever met. He always saw the upside. He always felt something better was going to happen. It was a unique experience to know and work with him. His positivity was incredible.”

Seidler became almost instantly beloved after taking over daily operation of the team, as fans felt he was essentially one of them as evidenced by his increased spending and exuberance. He once declared the 2020s would be “The Padres’ decade.” In 2022, Seidler, usually accompanied by his wife, eldest daughter or both, met up with the Padres in one city on virtually every road trip, a rarity for team owners.

Two days after the Padres lost to the Phillies in the 2022 National League Championship Series, the first time the franchise had advanced that far in 24 seasons, Seidler was asked about the Padres’ payroll for 2023.

“I kind of like spending money,” Seidler said with a grin. “You can’t take it with you.”

The team’s $256 million commitment to players in 2023 was third-highest in the major leagues.

Agent Scott Boras recalled on Tuesday his first time meeting Seidler, a decade ago. Seidler, who had recently gotten out of the hospital, arrived at Boras’ Orange County offices and stayed for eight hours talking about baseball despite being clearly exhausted.

“I kept asking if he wanted to go,” Boras said. “He said, ‘No. I want more.’ That’s why he became a great owner and great for the people of San Diego. No matter what happened, he always found a positive word to say about a player and people in general. Our game lost a very committed (owner), a great man. And a city hopefully got a big lift from someone who brought a different brand of baseball to San Diego and a different enthusiasm to San Diego.”

‘Kind, humble spirit’

Positivity was at Seidler’s core. When fielding questions that had negative overtones, he would offer answers that exuded faith and a general sense of optimism.

On the first day of spring training in February, Seidler was asked if, based on the team’s finish in 2022 and investment in payroll, anything short of a World Series would be considered a failure. His response was simple and typical:

“One day soon,” he said, “the baseball gods will smile on the San Diego Padres, and we will have a parade.”

Seidler was highly regarded by many for his efforts to find solutions to homelessness in San Diego.

Bryce Miller: San Diego loses far more than a baseball owner in community icon, ‘civic gem’ Peter Seidler

“Peter was a true visionary leader who had a deep love for the game of baseball and the San Diego Padres, and also an unwavering commitment to our city,” Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement. Gloria said Seidler made the Padres organization “an incredible community partner” that was about more than just baseball.

“Peter was perhaps best known for his great compassion for people experiencing homelessness, and everyone who worked with him will remember him for his kind and humble spirit,” Gloria said. “San Diego lost a truly special person today, but our city is a better place because of him. Our entire city mourns his passing, and we extend our hearts to his family and the entire Padres organization.”

Seidler served on the board of directors for the Lucky Duck Foundation, a San Diego nonprofit organization that raised millions of dollars for various charitable causes before focusing its efforts on homelessness in 2017.

That year, Seidler and Dan Shea, a local businessman and restaurant owner who is also on the foundation’s board, led an effort to install two large tents on city property — at a cost of $800,000 each — meant to temporarily house homeless people while attempting to find them permanent housing.

The Lucky Duck Foundation funded the purchase and construction of the two tents later that year, at a time when a hepatitis A outbreak among the homeless community left 20 people dead and hundreds of others sick. The city funded a third tent shelter.

Fan Guillermo Aguayo of Spring Valley holds up a Padres flag at a memorial at Petco Park for Padres owner Peter Seidler.

Fan Guillermo Aguayo of Spring Valley holds up a Padres flag at a memorial at Petco Park for Padres owner Peter Seidler. (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Unwavering dedication

In 2016, Seidler and Shea launched a weekly meeting, held each Tuesday in Seidler’s second-floor office at Petco Park, where prominent San Diegans would gather to discuss ways to tackle the growing homelessness issue. The “Tuesday Group,” as it came to be known, never missed a weekly meeting, according to Drew Moser, executive director of the Lucky Duck Foundation.

“The Tuesday Group will meet today. Peter wouldn’t have it any other way,” Moser said Tuesday. “It’s going to be pretty emotional.”

Moser said Seidler was “laser focused on getting credible people together to figure out what can be done right now. Not what can be done in weeks or months or years, but what can be done today.”

Moser said the foundation was fortunate to benefit from Seidler’s leadership, compassion and resolve. “I wish there was something I could say to bring him back,” Moser said.

Padres fan Anthony Macias brings flowers to a memorial at Petco Park for Padres Chairman Peter Seidler, who died Tuesday.

Padres fan Anthony Macias brings flowers to a memorial at Petco Park for Padres Chairman Peter Seidler, who died Tuesday. (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

A statement from the foundation called Seidler its “heart and soul” and said he led a “lifelong fight to prevent and alleviate the suffering of homelessness in San Diego County. Peter was inspirational and effective in everything he did, be that as a father, husband, business leader, owner of the Padres, philanthropist, and more. While Peter always stressed the importance of addressing homelessness through strategies that are ‘best in class,’ Peter himself was truly the best in every class.”

Seidler was not a distant observer of the issue — he was known to regularly walk through homeless encampments in the East Village near Petco Park and talk with the people living there, as well as homeless people he would encounter on his nightly walks through the beach communities near his home.

In a wide-ranging interview held in a suite at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati in July, Seidler was asked how his team’s struggles to that point in the season affected him.

San Diego, CA - October 15: San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler and Manny Machado celebrate after winning the NLDS against the Dodgers at Petco Park on Saturday, October 15, 2022 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

“This stuff does not make me angry,” he said. “When people abuse a homeless person who has a problem that is not his or her fault, that makes me angry. This is a joy. It really is.”

Seidler, who was diabetic, supported numerous charities focused on cancer, diabetes and homelessness. According to the team, those charities included the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the American Cancer Society, Home Start, a San Diego charity working to prevent child abuse; and various initiatives at the Mayo Clinic.

Seidler and his wife, Sheel, were also founding members of the Stand Up To Cancer Legacy Endowment Circle. They were part of a group of founders and initial donors — along with former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno and Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf — who contributed a combined $10 million to help kick off the group’s fundraising campaign.

Seidler, a two-time survivor of non-Hodgkins lymphoma who battled health issues for years, said in a subsequent July conversation with the Union-Tribune that he intended for the Padres to remain in his family for generations after he died. A source confirmed Tuesday that is the plan.

Seidler is survived by his wife and three young children; his mother, Terry Seidler; and nine siblings. His brother, Tom Seidler, is the Padres’ senior vice president for community and military affairs.

In 2012, Seidler, his uncle Peter O'Malley, and Ron Fowler formed the O'Malley Group, which purchased MLB's San Diego Padres from John Moores for $800 million.[10] The team increased spending in an attempt to contend for a championship, acquiring Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, and James Shields. On November 18, 2020, MLB approved the transfer of the role of chairman from Fowler to Seidler, who purchased part of Fowler's stake in the team to become the largest stakeholder.

Seidler increased the Padres' payroll to $214 million for the 2022 season, which was the sixth-highest in MLB. The Padres reached the 2022 National League (NL) Championship Series. Payroll was increased to $237 million for the 2023 MLB season, the third-highest in MLB. He authorized the acquisitions and contract extensions to star players, including Xander Bogaerts, Yu Darvish, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatís Jr., Juan Soto, Josh Hader, and Joe Musgrove. The team went 82–80 and finished third in the NL West.