Alfonso 'Alfy' Fanjul obit

Alfonso 'Alfy' Fanjul, Palm Beach sugar billionaire, dies at 89

 

He was not on the list.

Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul Gómez-Mena, a prominent Cuban-American entrepreneur and philanthropist known for reviving Florida's sugar industry post-Cuban exile, passed away this Monday in Palm Beach at the age of 89.

Journalist Wilfredo Cancio Isla announced on Facebook that Fanjul died in Palm Beach, highlighting his significant contributions as the head of Florida Crystals, the company he co-founded with his brother José "Pepe" Fanjul, which became a cornerstone of the sugar sector in the United States.

According to information shared by Cancio, the Palm Beach Daily News noted that Fanjul "played a pivotal role in redefining the sugar industry of Florida and the southern United States for generations," leaving a lasting impact on Palm Beach through his business, civic, and philanthropic efforts.

The Rise of a Sugar Mogul

Born in Havana in 1937, Alfonso Fanjul came from one of Cuba's most powerful sugar families. Before the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro, the Fanjuls controlled extensive plantations and mills on the island. However, the revolution resulted in the expropriation of their assets and forced the family into exile.

Initially settling in New York and later moving to Florida, Alfonso and his siblings rebuilt their family business from scratch. In 1960, they started a new sugar mill in Pahokee, which over the years evolved into a global business empire 

Expansion and Influence

Under the leadership of Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul and José "Pepe" Fanjul, Florida Crystals Corporation established itself as a leading sugar producer in the United States. Subsequently, the expansion of American Sugar Refining (ASR Group) turned the family into the owners of the world's largest sugar refining company, with well-known brands such as Domino Sugar and C&H, and operations extending to the Dominican Republic, Canada, Mexico, and Europe.

Their business success made the Fanjuls one of the wealthiest families among Cuban exiles and a major force in the U.S. agro-industrial sector. Concurrently, Alfonso Fanjul engaged in extensive philanthropic activities in Palm Beach and maintained a significant presence in American business and political circles.

A Vision for Cuban-American Relations

Although Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul was long associated with the Cuban exile community, he eventually emerged as the most open voice in his family regarding the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba.

In 2014, it was revealed that he had quietly traveled to Cuba to meet with Cuban authorities and explore new opportunities following the initial dialogues between Washington and Havana. Unlike other family members and a significant portion of the historical exile, Fanjul publicly advocated for dialogue and supported the idea of Cuban-American entrepreneurs participating in Cuba's economic reconstruction.

When President Barack Obama announced the restoration of diplomatic relations with Havana in December 2014, Fanjul endorsed the rapprochement process. He argued in interviews that isolation had not brought about changes in Cuba and that opening up presented a new opportunity.

"If there is a way for our family flag to return to Cuba, I would be delighted to do so," he told El País, expressing his desire to one day return to the country of his birth under conditions that assured legal security for investment and a different political environment.

His stance drew criticism from some sectors of the Cuban exile community, who considered any economic engagement premature while the regime remained in power. However, Fanjul maintained that commercial openness and increased exchanges could help accelerate the island's transformation.

Although he never invested in Cuba, and the subsequent deterioration of bilateral relations during succeeding administrations froze any business possibilities, Alfonso Fanjul became known as the family member most willing to build bridges with the island during the so-called "thaw."

While he supported this strategy, his brother José "Pepe" Fanjul held a stance more closely aligned with traditional exile sectors and the Republican Party, reflecting the diverse perspectives within one of the most iconic business families in the Cuban-American community.

No details about his cause of death or funeral arrangements have been disclosed at this time.

The passing of Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul marks the end of an era for one of the most influential Cuban-American businessmen of the last half-century. His legacy is characterized by the family's sugar empire reconstruction post-exile, his profound impact on the U.S. economy, and his significant efforts toward business rapprochement with Cuba during the Obama administration's thaw period.

Key Insights on Alfonso Fanjul's Legacy

Who was Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul?

Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul was a Cuban-American businessman and philanthropist known for rebuilding the Fanjul family's sugar empire in Florida after their exile from Cuba.

What were Alfonso Fanjul's contributions to the sugar industry?

Fanjul was instrumental in revitalizing the sugar industry in Florida and the southern United States, co-founding Florida Crystals and expanding the family business into a global sugar conglomerate.

How did Alfonso Fanjul view relations between the U.S. and Cuba?

Alfonso Fanjul supported dialogue and the normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, seeing it as an opportunity for economic reform and potential investment in Cuba.

Janice S. McNair obit

 

Houston Texans Co-Founder and Senior Chair Janice S. McNair Passes Away

She was not on the list.

HOUSTON – Houston Texans Co-Founder and Senior Chair Janice S. McNair passed away on Tuesday, July 14, 2026 at the age of 89. She is survived by four children, 16 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.

"Mom was exceptional. She exuded kindness, radiated joy, had an endless amount of hope and love, and lived an incredible life centered around faith, family, philanthropy and football," said Texans Chair and CEO Cal McNair. "It's impossible to describe the profound gratitude that my sisters, Ruth and Melissa, and I feel for having her as our mom. Outside of our family, nothing mattered more to her than her beloved Texans. I remain honored to lead this franchise and build on the foundation my parents set when they brought football back to Houston. Mom leaves an indelible mark on our family, our team and our community, and her giving spirit will always be embedded in the fabric of our organization. While I'm heartbroken, I take great comfort in knowing she is now reunited with my dad, her favorite teammate."

Since moving to Houston in 1960, Janice and her husband Bob raised four children and embarked on a lifelong career of giving back to the community. The McNairs were generous philanthropists, making education and medical research the cornerstones of their charitable giving. In total, Bob and Janice contributed more than a half billion dollars to charity. Contributions were made through The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, the Houston Texans Foundation and The Robert and Janice McNair Educational Foundation in Forest City, N.C. Janice served as a director of each foundation.

In 2025, Mrs. McNair was inducted as the fourth member of the Texans Ring of Honor. She was honored at a halftime ceremony where she was lauded by Texans fans who showed their appreciation to her for bringing football back to Houston and the immeasurable impact she's made in the years since. Her name was placed in the rafters next to her late husband, Bob's, and alongside Legends Andre Johnson and J.J. Watt.

The Houston Texans Foundation was created in 2002 at the inception of the franchise. It was born out of Janice and Bob's strong desire to do great things for Houston, especially Houston's youth. Since the Texans Foundation's inception in 2002, more than $51 million has been raised to inspire hope in H-Town. The Texans Foundation leverages the power of football to strengthen our community, support youth development and break down barriers to fundamental resources.

Through The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, Janice and Bob established McNair Scholars programs which recruit the best and brightest students and faculty to the University of South Carolina, Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Texas Children's Hospital. Their contributions to academic medical research, including a transformational gift in 2007 to Baylor College of Medicine support medical scientists who are innovating treatments for disease. The McNair Campus was named in recognition of their generosity. In 2015, the McNairs established programs at universities across the country to empower students with an understanding of free enterprise systems and with the entrepreneurial skills to create new enterprises. The McNair Institute for Entrepreneurism and Free Enterprise at the University of South Carolina serves as a model for entrepreneurism centers in higher education.

McNair grew up in Orangeburg, S.C., was active in sports, choir and student government, president of the South Carolina Association of Student Councils and governor of the South Carolina Girls' State. She graduated from Columbia College in Columbia, S.C. with a degree in education and later received an honorary doctorate from Columbia College. She was a breast cancer survivor.

STATEMENT FROM CHIEF COMMUNITY OFFICER AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE HOUSTON TEXANS FOUNDATION HANNAH MCNAIR:

"Janice was more than a mentor, she was a dear friend, a role model, and a true queen mother. Her vision, generosity, and passion for serving others shaped our organization and touched so many lives, including mine. Giving back was at the heart of everything she did, and I'm honored to carry her legacy and love for sports and community forward. She will be deeply missed, and her example will continue to inspire us all."

STATEMENT FROM TEXANS HEAD COACH DEMECO RYANS:

"Mrs. McNair was an incredible woman who will be deeply missed. As a player, she and Mr. McNair built an organization that felt like a family and it was a true honor to play for them. I will always remember the day I came home to Houston in 2023. Mrs. McNair welcomed me back into the Texans family with open arms and her signature warm smile. We shared the same vision of bringing the organization to new heights and I will continue to work every day to accomplish that goal. My thoughts and prayers are with Cal, Hannah and their family during this time."

STATEMENT FROM TEXANS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER NICK CASERIO:

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Mrs. McNair. She was a remarkable person whose kindness and compassion left a lasting impact on our organization. Her genuine care and the consistent support she constantly showed our players, coaches and staff will be remembered fondly. My thoughts and prayers are with Cal, Hannah and the entire McNair family during this most difficult time."

STATEMENT FROM TEXANS PRESIDENT MIKE TOMON:

"Our Texans family lost a special woman today. As the matriarch of our organization, Mrs. McNair's impact on the Texans, across the NFL and the game of football will last forever. It was a privilege to know her and she will be dearly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with the McNairs and all of our fans who loved her."

Alvin Libin obit

Calgary Flames co-owner Alvin Libin dead at 95

Libin described as 'great partner and friend' to Flames co-owners

 

He was not on the list.

Calgary Flames co-owner Alvin Libin has died at the age of 95.

The Flames announced his death on Monday, and no cause of death was given.

Libin joined the Flames ownership group in 1994.

He was part of the organization's growth and expansion to bring the CFL's Stampeders, WHL's Hitmen and National Lacrosse League's Roughnecks under the umbrella of the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC).

The relocation of the AHL's Wranglers to Calgary and the start of construction of a new event centre to replace the 43-year-old Saddledome also happened during Libin's co-ownership.

Libin was a director on several corporate and community boards. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001 and was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2004.

N. Murray Edwards, chairman of the CSEC board, said, "Alvin was a great partner and friend to all owners over the years. His passion for the Calgary Flames and the other CSEC teams was second to none.

"Alvin will be missed, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the entire Libin family."

CSEC president Robert Hayes added, "Alvin's vision, generosity and passion helped shape not only CSEC, but also the broader community. He was a respected and trusted leader, a valued partner, a community philanthropist, and a friend to many.

"While his impact on CSEC will endure for generations, it is the relationships he built and the lives he touched that will be remembered most."

Born in Calgary in 1931, Libin built a successful career in the corporate sector. His business interests extended from real estate to oil and gas to financial services.

He also held an Honorary Laws degree from the University of Calgary.

Libin's parents, Norman and Ethel (née Shapiro), were Russian Jewish immigrants.

In 1953, Libin married the late Mona (Diamond). They had one son, Robert, and three grandchildren, Louis, Eda, and Nora. Mona Libin was a community activist in her own right, co-chairing the Partners in Health campaign that raised $51 million for the Calgary Health Region. Following kidney transplantation in 2004, Mona Libin eventually succumbed to pneumonia and died in 2006. Libin died on June 14, 2026.

In 2012, the Calgary Flames Limited Partnership became majority and operating partner of the Calgary Stampeders. Subsequently, the Partnership was renamed as the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation; it currently operates the Calgary Flames, Calgary Stampeders, the Scotiabank Saddledome, the Western Hockey League's Calgary Hitmen, the National Lacrosse League's Calgary Roughnecks, and the American Hockey League's Calgary Wranglers.

Billie Tisch obit

Billie Tisch, Matriarch of Billionaire Loews Family, Dies at 98

Wilma “Billie” Tisch, a matriarch of one of America’s wealthiest families and leader of its philanthropy to Jewish causes and to New York City cultural and medical institutions, has died. She was 98. 

She was not on the list.

(Bloomberg) — Wilma “Billie” Tisch, a matriarch of one of America’s wealthiest families and leader of its philanthropy to Jewish causes and to New York City cultural and medical institutions, has died. She was 98.

She died on Sunday at her home in Manhattan, the New York Times reported, citing her son, Thomas Tisch.

The wife of a co-founder of Loews Corp., Tisch rose to leadership positions with the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York including a term as the group’s first elected female president. The federation, known today as the UJA-Federation of New York, raised more than $234 million in 2023, according to the group’s annual report. Tisch had remained an honorary member of its board.

The 2003 death of her husband, Laurence Tisch, followed by the 2005 death of his brother and business partner, Preston Robert Tisch, left Wilma and her sister-in-law, Joan Tisch, to oversee the multibillion-dollar fortune the brothers had built. Joan died in 2017.

Forbes magazine estimated the family’s net worth to be $10.1 billion as of February 2024.

The Tisch brothers had turned Loews, a theater chain when they bought it in 1959, into a conglomerate by investing in hotels, energy companies and insurer CNA Financial Corp. Its principal units include CNA Financial, Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc., Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP and Loews Hotels & Resorts. It spun off Lorillard Inc., maker of Newport cigarettes, in 2008, after owning it for more than 30 years.

The Tisch family’s large philanthropic footprint in Manhattan included funding for the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and for Tisch Hospital, part of NYU’s Langone Medical Center. Laurence Tisch helped raise about $2 billion for the university, more than $40 million of which came directly from his family, according to his obituary in the New York Times.

Two sons of Laurence and Billie Tisch, James and Andrew, have long been involved in running Loews with their cousin, Jonathan. The other two sons are Thomas, managing partner at Tisch Financial, who stepped down as chancellor of Brown University in 2016; and Daniel, managing member of TowerView LLC, an investment fund of the family.

Jessica Tisch, a daughter of James, became New York City’s police commissioner in 2024.

Wilma Stein was born on June 25, 1927, in Long Branch, New Jersey, and raised in nearby Asbury Park. She was one of two daughters of Joseph Stein, who ran a Cadillac dealership in Asbury Park, and his wife, Rose, a bookkeeper.

Though both her parents were Jewish, their ancestry — his family was from Germany, hers from Lithuania — made theirs “really a mixed marriage,” Tisch said in an oral-history interview with the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.

She majored in economics with a minor in accounting at Skidmore College, in Saratoga Springs, New York. After graduating in 1948 with a bachelor’s of science degree, she landed a job at Time Inc. and began commuting to New York City from Asbury Park.

A blind date with Laurence Tisch, who was known as Larry, changed her plans. Their “whirlwind courtship,” as she put it, culminated in their 1948 marriage, four months after their meeting.

They had their four sons in the following five years, while living at Tisch family-owned hotels in New Jersey and New York. They later settled in Scarsdale, New York.

Tisch began her philanthropic work by serving on the board of Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York. She joined the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies’ distribution committee, which decided how to apportion charitable grants, in 1969 and became chairman of the committee in 1975.

Female Leader

The federation had been founded in 1917 by philanthropists led by Felix Warburg, a partner in Wall Street firm Kuhn Loeb & Co. It merged in 1986 with the United Jewish Appeal.

Until Tisch’s election in 1980, the organization had been led by men — typically “a captain of industry or a financial wizard,” such as Lehman Brothers partner Arthur Lehman and Gustave Levy, senior partner at Goldman Sachs & Co., the New York Times reported in 1981.

The one exception to that rule, Madeleine Borg, had served out the unexpired term of a president who died in 1938, and was not elected herself, the Times said.

At the time, the group helped fund more than 100 agencies — including hospitals, childcare facilities and homes for seniors — serving 2 million New Yorkers. Today, the UJA-Federation has activities in more than 70 countries assisting 4.5 million people annually, according to its website.

The Times article described Tisch as “mild-mannered and gracious,” a woman who didn’t mind being described as “a traditional wife and mother.”

For her, the unpaid charitable post was “a seven-day and seven-night-a-week job,” she said, according to the Times. “My main problem is trying to do the job well and still maintain my family life.”

Her husband also was active in the UJA-Federation, serving on the board of trustees and leading its annual fundraising campaign. The organization honored the couple at a 1994 banquet in New York.

Donald E. Newhouse obit

Donald E. Newhouse, son of Samuel I. Newhouse, dies at 96

 

He was not on the list.

Donald Newhouse, former leader of Advance Publication’s newspaper division and son of Samuel I. Newhouse Sr., died Tuesday at 96 at his New Jersey estate, nj.com first reported. Donald’s son Steven Newhouse confirmed that the cause of death was lymphoma, The New York Times reported.

Both Donald and his brother Samuel I. Newhouse Jr. attended Syracuse University and left college early to join their father’s company, the Times reported. After Donald left SU, he became a circulation manager at The Long Island Press.

Samuel I. Newhouse Sr. purchased the Staten Island Advance in 1922 and began to expand his privately held media conglomerate from there. Donald and his older brother, who died in 2017, inherited the empire after their father’s death in 1979.

In 1964, after a gift from Samuel I. Newhouse Sr., SU opened the Newhouse I building. Seven years later, in 1971, the Newhouse School of Public Communications was officially formed when SU’s School of Journalism merged with its television and radio academic program, named in honor of the school’s main benefactor. The S.I. Newhouse Foundation donated $15 million in 2003 to fund the construction of Newhouse 3.

Donald announced in 2020 that the foundation would pledge $75 million to the Newhouse School, the largest gift in SU’s history.

In 2024, Donald returned to SU to unveil the Newhouse Family Plaza during the Newhouse School’s 60th anniversary celebrations.

“I am fortunate to have the chance, in the same month that I celebrate my 95th birthday, to look back with overwhelming pride at the record of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. It is one of the great joys of my life,” Donald said at the event.

Advance Publications, through its subsidiary Condé Nast, runs several magazines, including The New Yorker, Architectural Digest and Wired, in addition to media organizations across the country. Donald, however, ran the newspaper subsidiary, which included large papers like The Oregonian and The Plain Dealer.

Although he maintained the title of president, Donald stepped back from Advance Publications’ operations in the mid-2000s, the Times reported. He instead put effort into research and awareness of frontotemporal degeneration, a form of dementia that his wife Susan Marley died from.

“Donald Newhouse was always clear and confident about his values as an owner and as a newspaperman,” Sandra Mims Rowe, leader of The Oregonian from 1993-2010, said. “Newspapers were in his DNA, and it showed.”

He owned Advance Publications. It was founded in 1922 by his father, Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., and its properties include Condé Nast (publisher of such magazines as Vogue, Tatler, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker), dozens of newspapers across the U.S. (including The Star-Ledger, The Plain Dealer, and The Oregonian), a stake in cable company Charter Communications, and a stake in Warner Bros. Discovery. According to Forbes, he had an estimated net worth of $11 billion as of June 2024. He resided in New York City.

Newhouse was born in New York City to a Jewish family. Newhouse's father, Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and began the family media business. His mother, Mitzi Epstein, was an arts patron and philanthropist who grew up in an upper middle class family on the Upper West Side, the daughter of a silk tie importer. Newhouse was included on The Jerusalem Post's list of the world's 50 richest Jews in 2010

Ted Turner - # 358

Ted Turner, billionaire media mogul and CNN founder, dies at 87

He conquered the broadcasting industry and reshaped the television landscape with CNN, the first 24-hour cable news network in the U.S. 

He was number 358 on the list.

Ted Turner, the high-flying media tycoon, entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded CNN and revolutionized American cable television, died on Wednesday.

He was 87.

Turner’s death was first reported by CNN, citing a Turner Enterprises news release.

"Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgment," CNN chairman and CEO Mark Thompson said in a statement. "He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN."

In his prime, Turner was one of the kings of broadcasting, a brash but savvy visionary. He turned the Turner Broadcasting System into a behemoth, establishing the “superstation” concept and launching channels such as TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies.

He transformed culture and politics with Cable News Network, the first 24-hour news channel in the country. CNN helped to fundamentally change the format and speed of TV news, laying the path for competitors such as Fox News and MSNBC, now known as MS Now.

Turner, with his wily grin and thin mustache, jumped into other ventures with the zeal of an Old West prospector. He once owned the Atlanta Braves, marketing the baseball franchise as “America’s Team.” He created Ted’s Montana Grill, a restaurant chain that serves bison meat.

He was a staple of magazine covers and newspaper business sections, cultivating a reputation for keen instincts and a no-filter style. He sometimes ran into trouble for injudicious comments about world affairs or religion, earning the nickname “Captain Outrageous.”

“I don’t have any idea what I’m going to say. I say what comes to my mind,” he told The New Yorker for a profile published in 2001.

He was also a prolific philanthropist, environmentalist and self-described “do-gooder.” He famously gave $1 billion to the United Nations and co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit advocacy organization.

Robert Edward Turner III was born Nov. 19, 1938, in Cincinnati to Robert Edward Turner Jr. and Florence Turner. Turner’s father was a wealthy billboard advertising magnate who owned his own firm, Turner Advertising.

The young Turner enrolled at Brown University in 1956, but he was kicked out three years later, reportedly for having a woman in his dorm room. Turner then joined his father at the family business, headquartered in Atlanta, becoming general manager of a branch office in 1960.

The elder Turner, struggling with financial hardships and mental health issues, died by suicide in 1963; his son took over the advertising company, taking on the roles of president and CEO.

Turner Advertising was renamed Turner Communications with the acquisition of several radio stations. Turner branched out into other media, purchasing a beleaguered UHF television station in Atlanta, as well as the rights to old movies and sitcom reruns.

In the mid-1970s, Turner made one of the most consequential decisions of his career. He was one of the first media company owners to use satellite technology to broadcast his station to a national cable television viewing audience, widening his reach and boosting revenues.

Turner filled the “Super Station” lineup with a combination of vintage Hollywood titles, throwback sitcoms and baseball games.

In 1979, the company rebranded once again, becoming Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and establishing itself as one of the key enterprises of the cable television revolution.

Turner leveraged his media success in sports, buying the Atlanta Braves in 1976 and the Atlanta Hawks in 1977. The Braves won the World Series in 1995 under his ownership.

In the late 1970s, Turner came up with the idea for a 24-hour cable news channel — a significant shift in an era when the “Big Three” network news programs still reigned supreme and many viewers did not conceive of news consumption as a minute-to-minute activity.

CNN aired its first broadcast on June 1, 1980, anchored by the husband-and-wife duo of David Walker and Lois Hart.

In the mid-1980s, as CNN emerged as a cornerstone of the cable lineup and a household name, Turner bought MGM/UA Entertainment Co., which included Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s sprawling library of more than 4,000 movies.

He offended cinephiles and much of the Hollywood establishment with his plans to “colorize” black-and-white films from the MGM library. In a 1989 article, the Los Angeles Times called him “The Man Hollywood Loves to Hate.”

The critic Roger Ebert wrote that Turner’s airing of a colorized version of “Casablanca” was “one of the saddest days in the history of the movies.”

“It is sad because it demonstrates that there is no movie that Turner will spare, no classic however great that is safe from the vulgarity of his computerized graffiti gangs,” Ebert wrote.

Turner eventually backed down, deciding the colorization process was not cost-efficient. He soon sold off MGM/UA, but he retained ownership of the MGM movie library, which later formed the backbone of programming on Turner Classic Movies, or TCM, launched in 1994.

Turner married for a third and final time in 1991, partnering with the Oscar-winning actor and activist Jane Fonda.

The union between an avatar of American capitalism and an outspoken progressive who railed against the status quo raised eyebrows, but the two were smitten from the start and bonded over their shared curiosity about the world.

“In his heart, Ted is not a wealthy, powerful, privileged person,” Fonda told interviewers for “Jane Fonda in Five Acts,” an HBO documentary released in 2018. “He’s a little boy who likes to play, and who has wild brilliance, and that’s what I was attracted to.”

“We were both children of suicide, so we understood each other,” Fonda added.

The couple, by all accounts, savored their years together, spending countless hours in nature — hiking, fly-fishing, horse riding and other “adventures,” Fonda said. But the marriage ultimately ran aground, and they divorced in 2001.

“It was very difficult,” Turner told the HBO documentarians. “I’ve survived, and so has she, but I feel like I was happier when I was with her than subsequently.”

In 1996, Time Warner Inc. acquired Turner Broadcasting System for $7.5 billion. Turner was named vice chairman of Time Warner and presided over the new company’s cable TV brands.

Time Warner then merged with the former Internet giant AOL in 2001, with Turner becoming vice chairman and senior adviser of the newly formed AOL Time Warner Inc. Two years later, he resigned as vice chairman.

It was widely reported that Turner was forced out, and his departure effectively marked the end of his reign as a media industry chief. But in recent decades, he remained productive as a philanthropist and environmentalist.

He donated a staggering $1 billion to the United Nations in 1998; the funds were used to create the United Nations Foundation, a charitable group that supports the goals of the U.N.

He co-founded, with former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit organization that seeks to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction and advocates for global nonproliferation.

He supported various conservation projects and environmental causes. He was also one of the top landowners in the U.S., and he used the extensive acreage under his care to promote sustainability and ecotourism.

He was particularly invested in growing the country’s bison herd, and in 2002 he co-founded Ted’s Montana Grill, a restaurant chain that purportedly offered the “largest bison menu” on the planet.

In his later years, Turner made comments suggesting he was uncomfortable with the wave of corporate media consolidation he once symbolized.

“In the media, as in any industry, big corporations play a vital role, but so do small, emerging ones. When you lose small businesses, you lose big ideas,” he wrote in a 2004 essay for Washington Monthly.

Turner published an autobiography, “Call Me Ted,” in 2008. Ten years later, he announced that he had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia.

“It’s a mild case of what people have as Alzheimer’s. It’s similar to that. But not nearly as bad. Alzheimer’s is fatal,” Turner told journalist Ted Koppel in the fall of 2018 from his Montana ranch.

Turner was married and divorced three times. He had five children — two from his first marriage, to Judy Gale Nye, and three from his second marriage, to Jane Shirley Smith.

Turner has been regarded as one of the entrepreneurs who transformed the cable industry and has been referred to as "the Alexander the Great of broadcasting" by Slate magazine:

While Turner has been described as a "valiant liberator" and cast the networks as oppressive scoundrels, in content his programming fell short of inspiring. His network was built on sitcom reruns, old movies, cartoons, and Atlanta Braves games. He found an audience for classics of a bygone time, along with slightly down-market content like professional wrestling. Nonetheless, he would find glorious terms even for retreads and junk, claiming to be pulling America back to television's golden age: "I want to get it back to the principles" he once said, "that made us good." Nostalgic, Manichean, and boot-strappy: like programmer, like programming

The cable industry boomed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as nearly a dozen cable networks launched based on the Turner model. They include much of what we now consider the staples of cable TV, including ESPN, MTV, Bravo, Showtime, BET, the Discovery Channel, and the Weather Channel. Those are the better-known channels only by virtue of having survived; others, such as ARTS, CBS Cable, and the Satellite News Channel, folded or were acquired by other companies.

Professional wrestling promoter and former Senior Vice President of WCW second in charge after Turner, Eric Bischoff praised Turner claiming "He was an inspirational leader, he was a risk taker, he appreciated people who took risks, he was not afraid of failure while most people are. Ted was not afraid to fail, he was more afraid of not trying and not conquering that next horizon."

On June 24, 1999, Vince McMahon stated on Late Night with Conan O'Brien: "All I'll say about Ted is he's a son-of-a-bitch, other than that, he's probably not a bad guy, but I don't like him at all". Later in 2021, when asked about the upstart AEW in comparison to Turner's WCW, McMahon dismissed AEW, stating that "it certainly is not a situation where 'rising tides' because that was when Ted Turner was coming after us with all of Time Warner's assets as well"

When Turner was 26, he entered sailing competitions at the Savannah Yacht Club and competed in Olympic trials in 1964. He first attempted to win the America's Cup in 1974, losing in the defender's trials, aboard 12 Metre class yacht US–25 Mariner. Turner was defeated by Ted Hood aboard US–26 Courageous.

Turner was asked to join the 1977 America's Cup defense syndicate formed by Hood and Lee Loomis for the New York Yacht Club. That group still owned the Courageous but decided to design and construct a new 12 Metre – US–28 Independence – to defend the 1974 America's Cup victory. However, in the trials, with Turner as skipper aboard the 3-year-old Courageous proved to be the faster than Hood and Independence  and was selected to race in the 1977 races.

From 13 to 18 September 1977 Courageous, with Turner in command, defeated the challenger Australia, skippered by Noel Robins, in a four-race sweep. Courageous' greatest winning margin out of all four races was 2 minutes and 23 seconds.

Awards and honors

Emmy Awards

 

Lifetime Achievement – Sports (2014)

Lifetime Achievement – News & Documentary (2015)

Sports

 

1995: World Series champion (as owner of the Atlanta Braves)

1996: Atlanta Braves home ballpark (1996–2016) named Turner Field

2004: Commemorative banner at State Farm Arena honoring his tenure as owner of the Atlanta Hawks

Media

 

1984: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement

1989: Paul White Award, Radio Television Digital News Association

1990: Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.

1991: Time magazine's Man of the Year.

1997: Peabody Award winner

1999: Edison Achievement Award for his commitment to innovation throughout his career

2000: Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Communication

Halls of Fame

 

1991: Television Hall of Fame inductee

2004: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Organizational

 

1991: Audubon medal from the National Audubon Society

2001: Albert Schweitzer Gold Medal for Humanitarianism

2010: Georgia Trustee, an honor given by the Georgia Historical Society, in conjunction with the Governor of Georgia[78]

2013: Lone Sailor Award, which recognizes Navy, Marine and Coast Guard veterans who have distinguished themselves in their civilian careers (Turner is a Coast Guard veteran)

Doris Fisher obit

Doris Fisher, Gap cofounder, dies at 94

Fisher, who started the fashion brand with her late husband, was a San Francisco native. 

She was not on the list.

Doris Fisher, the San Francisco businesswoman and philanthropist who cofounded Gap Inc. and coined the name that would become one of the most recognizable brands in American fashion, has died. She was 94.

Her death was announced Sunday by family to friends in an email, which was obtained by The Standard. Sources close to the family told The Standard she died Saturday.

“She lived her values with purpose and integrity and believed that partnership made life richer,” her family said in a statement. “As a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, her love shaped generations. She was a builder at heart — shaping organizations, investing in people, creating possibility — and she carried this spirit through every part of her life. We believe her legacy lives on not only in what she created, but in how she lived.”

Fisher cofounded the Gap with her late husband, Donald Fisher, in 1969, growing it into a company with $15.4 billion in sales and more than 3,500 stores worldwide(opens in new tab), including its subsidiaries Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Athleta.

She is credited with naming the company, a reference to the generation gap between young people and their parents that defined the tumultuous era.

The pair had a simple idea: to make it easier to find a pair of jeans. They opened the first Gap store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco as a side project to their retail efforts selling Levi’s jeans and records. Fisher served as the company’s merchandiser until 2003 and sat on the board until 2009 and was named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes.

Gap Inc. marked Fisher’s 90th birthday in August 2021 with a companywide day of service(opens in new tab) in her name. In an email to employees, then-CEO Sonia Syngal described Fisher as the company’s “cofounder, first working mom, and original arbiter of cool,” crediting her with instilling in Gap “a deep love of individual style along with an unwavering commitment to giving back.”

Syngal noted that when Doris and Don Fisher opened their first store in 1969, they did so as equals. “She captured the American zeitgeist,” Syngal wrote, “and set the stage for the brand to become the cultural icon it is today.”

Syngal described Fisher as someone who was “ahead of her time” in her commitment to giving back, and whose belief in collective action directly shaped the company’s guiding principles. “Doris is a beacon of what our best looks like,” Syngal wrote. “She has inspired me and generations of others to aspire to our full potential, do good and do more.” As Fisher herself once said of her philanthropic drive: “We can always do more.”

The company she built honored her legacy just weeks ago. In April, Gap Inc. President and CEO Richard Dickson announced the launch(opens in new tab) of The Doris Fisher Creators Program, a mentorship initiative developed in partnership with the Fashion Institute of Technology. The program, described as a reflection of “her legacy of creativity, curiosity, and belief in people,” connects FIT students with Gap Inc. leaders and provide pathways into the fashion industry.

“There is simply no equal to Doris Fisher,” Dickson said in a statement. “In Gap-speak, she was a true original. Doris was a full partner in Gap Inc.’s founding and a path-breaking entrepreneur at a time when that was highly unusual for women.”

Fisher was equally formidable as a philanthropist. She and her late husband donated more than $70 million to the Knowledge is Power Program, helping build it into the largest network of charter schools in the country. She loaned her collection of 1,100 works(opens in new tab) by 185 artists(opens in new tab) — including Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol, Ellsworth Kelly, and Richard Serra — to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

David Simon obit

Simon Property Group Announces the Passing of David Simon

 

He was not on the list.

INDIANAPOLIS, March 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- It is with profound sorrow and immense respect that the Board of Directors of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE: SPG) announces the passing of David Simon, the Company's visionary Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President — the singular leader who built Simon Property Group into the largest and most admired retail real estate company in the world. He was 64 years old.

Mr. Simon passed away peacefully on March 22, 2026 surrounded by his family, after a courageous battle with cancer. The Board of Directors, the Company's employees, and the entire global Simon community mourn this immeasurable loss.

Statement from the Simon Family

The Simon family shared the following statement:

"Our family is deeply grateful for the tremendous outpouring of love and support we have received from across the globe. Our beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother poured his heart and soul into building Simon Property Group. He was most proud of his family, his wife of over 40 years Jackie, and their 5 children: Eli, Rebecca, Hannah, Sam and Noah, and 7 grandchildren. We ask for privacy as we grieve our great loss."

Leadership Continuity and Succession

The Board of Directors has always had a strong emphasis on succession planning for its executive leadership team, driven by David Simon's deep commitment to the Company's long-term future. The Board has been focused and engaged in thoughtful and comprehensive succession planning on an ongoing basis.   As a result of their hard work, effective today, the Board has appointed Eli Simon as its Chief Executive Officer and President. In addition, Eli will continue as Chief Operating Officer and Director. The Board expresses its full confidence in Eli's leadership skills and abilities to guide the Company forward.  The Board is also confident with the forward vision, strength, depth, and capability of the executive management team that Eli will lead, and which he has garnered their unwavering respect and support.

In addition, Larry Glasscock has been appointed by the Board to serve as Non-Executive Chairman of the Board consistent with these succession planning efforts and the Company's Governance Principles.

The Company's shareholders, partners, employees, tenants and lenders can be assured and comforted that its operations will continue without interruption, supported by a world-class management team and a portfolio of irreplaceable assets that have been built to continue seamlessly, as a lasting testament to David Simon's extraordinary vision.

Statement from Larry Glasscock, Non-Executive Chairman

Larry Glasscock, Non- Executive Chairman of the Board, issued the following statement on behalf of the Board of Directors:

"On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, we extend our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the Simon family. We are profoundly grateful for the privilege of having served alongside David, and we pledge to honor his extraordinary legacy by continuing to uphold the principles of excellence he embodied every single day."

"There are no words adequate to express the depth of our sorrow or the magnitude of our gratitude. David Simon was, quite simply, the finest leader in the history of the retail real estate industry. His extraordinary intellect, his relentless drive for excellence, and his unmatched strategic vision transformed a privately held family business into an esteemed global institution — creating billions of dollars in value for shareholders along the way.

"David's legacy transcends financial performance. He was a leader of uncommon integrity, fierce loyalty, and deep personal conviction. He inspired everyone around him to reach higher, think bigger, and never settle. He set the standard — not just for our Company, but for an entire industry. All of the Simon Malls®, the world-class Simon Premium Outlets®, and every mixed-use destination in our portfolio bears the imprint of his vision and his exacting standards.

A Once-in-a-Generation Leader: The Legacy of David Simon

David Simon's career stands as one of the most remarkable leadership stories in the history of American business. Over more than three decades, he took a regional family real estate enterprise and, through sheer force of vision, intellect, and will, built it into the undisputed global leader in retail real estate — a company that reshaped the industry and redefined what a real estate investment trust could become.

David joined the Company's predecessor, Melvin Simon & Associates, as Chief Financial Officer in 1990, bringing with him the rigorous analytical training of a Wall Street investment banker first honed at First Boston Corporation and then at Wasserstein Perella & Co. In 1993, at just 31 years old, he orchestrated the Company's initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange — raising nearly $1 billion in what was then the largest real estate public stock offering in history. It was the first signal of the boldness and ambition that would define his entire career.

Named Chief Executive Officer in 1995 at the age of 33, David became one of the youngest CEOs of a major publicly traded company in America. What followed was an unparalleled era of growth, innovation, and value creation. Under his leadership, Simon Property Group delivered a cumulative total shareholder return of more than 4,500% since its IPO — a record that places David among the most successful value creators in the history of public markets, in any industry.

He was the architect of a series of transformative transactions that reshaped the competitive landscape of retail real estate. His acquisitions of DeBartolo Realty Corporation, Corporate Property Investors, Chelsea Property Group, the Mills Corporation, and Taubman Centers — among many others — were executed with a combination of strategic brilliance and financial discipline that became his hallmark. Each transaction strengthened the Company's portfolio and made it more efficient, expanded its reach and offerings to consumers, and reinforced its position as the unquestioned retail real estate industry leader. At the time of his passing, Simon Property Group owned or held interests in more than 250 properties comprising over 200 million square feet across North America, Europe, and Asia, generating billions in annual revenue.

David's genius lay not only in assembling assets, but in elevating them. He understood, earlier and more clearly than anyone in his industry, that retail destinations had to evolve from transactional spaces into experiential ones. Under his direction, the Company has invested billions in redeveloping and reimagining its properties — creating premier shopping, dining, and entertainment destinations that became true community gathering places. This vision has ensured the enduring relevance and vitality of Simon's portfolio even as the retail real estate landscape has been hit with seismic change.

His leadership during periods of crisis further revealed the depth of his character and capability. He steered the Company through the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, emerging with a stronger balance sheet and an expanded portfolio. When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered retail properties worldwide in 2020, David moved with characteristic decisiveness — implementing safety protocols, supporting tenants, and positioning the Company for a rapid recovery that outpaced the broader industry. In every challenge, he saw opportunity; in every setback, he found a new path forward.

David's strategic vision extended well beyond the borders of the United States. He served, until recently, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Klépierre, a publicly traded, Paris-based retail real estate company, and served on the board of Apollo Global Management, Inc., reflecting the breadth of his influence across global business and finance. The Harvard Business Review recognized him as one of the world's best-performing CEOs in both 2010 and 2013, and Barron's Magazine bestowed the same distinction in 2013 — honors that only begin to capture the esteem in which he was held by his peers, investors, and the broader business community.

Throughout his career, David maintained an industry-leading balance sheet, sustaining A/A3 credit ratings that reflected not only financial strength but the confidence that the capital markets placed in his stewardship. He returned billions of dollars to shareholders through consistent and growing dividends, while simultaneously reinvesting in the portfolio and pursuing strategic growth. It was a balancing act that few CEOs in any industry have managed with such sustained success.

David Simon was a graduate of The Indiana University Kelley School of Business (B.S., 1983) and Columbia University's Graduate School of Business (M.B.A., 1985). Before joining the family enterprise, he distinguished himself as an investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions and leveraged buyouts — a foundation that equipped him with the financial acumen and deal-making instincts that became defining features of his leadership.

Above all, David was a builder — of assets, of teams, of careers, and of an enduring institution. He cultivated a culture of excellence, accountability, and ambition that attracted and retained the finest talent in the industry. Countless executives and professionals credit David Simon with shaping their careers and setting the example of what great leadership looks like. His influence will be felt for generations to come.

Condolence and Memorial Information

Details regarding memorial services will be shared by the Simon family at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the: Anti Defamation League,  American Jewish Committee, UJA Federation of New York and Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.

About Simon

Simon® is a real estate investment trust engaged in the ownership of premier shopping, dining, entertainment and mixed-use destinations and an S&P 100 company (Simon Property Group, NYSE: SPG). Our properties across North America, Europe and Asia provide community gathering places for millions of people every day and generate billions in annual sales.

Rocco Commisso obit

Rocco Commisso, Cable TV Mogul and ACF Fiorentina Owner, Dies at 76

The veteran cable executive founded Mediacom in 1995, creating a cable company focused on smaller communities, and became a billionaire in the process. 

He was not on the list.

Rocco Commisso, the veteran cable TV executive turned founder of the cable giant Mediacom and owner of Italy’s ACF Fiorentina, has died. He was 76.

Commisso’s death was announced by Mediacom and the Italian soccer team late Friday night, with the team saying that he died “after a prolonged period of medical treatment.”

A banker turned cable CFO, the executive founded Mediacom in 1995 when he was 45 years old, focusing the nascent cable provider on smaller cities and towns that were not being adequately served by other cable companies.

It was a bet that paid off, with Mediacom now the fifth largest cable company in the U.S. with over three million households and businesses served in 22 states, and making Commisso a billionaire in the process. Mediacom is wholly owned by Commisso’s family, with the executive serving as its chairman and CEO until his death.

“This is truly the land of opportunity. It gave this poor soul the opportunity to become something, somebody,” Commisso told CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi in a 2023 profile. “And that’s the beauty of America.”

Born in Calabria, Italy, Commisso moved to the United States at age 12, and graduated from Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx in 1967. Growing up a soccer fan, it was at Columbia University where Commisso truly fell in love with the sport, playing for the Columbia Lions from 1967–1970 and serving as co-captain of the 1970 team that made Columbia’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Playoffs. Columbia’s soccer venue is now named the Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.

He started his professional career working for Pfizer in Brooklyn, before shifting to finance after receiving his MBA from Columbia in 1975. After stints at Chase Manhattan Bank Royal Bank of Canada, where he specialized in lending to companies in the communications sector, he joined Cablevision, eventually becoming its CFO and a director. After Cablevision sold to Time Warner in a $2.2 billion deal, Commisso founded Mediacom.

“What I foresaw is the fact that sooner or later, we’re gonna get deregulated, and there’s a great opportunity to do well in the smaller markets of the U.S., the rural markets, largely because nobody wanted them,” he told 60 Minutes.

A member of the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, the Cable Center Hall of Fame and the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame, Commisso also received National Italian American Foundation’s Life Achievement Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership, the cable industry’s highest honor.

He was also active in the cable business community, serving on the boards of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and C-SPAN.

But he never gave up on soccer.

He acquired the New York Cosmos soccer team in 2017, and two years later purchased the storied Serie A team ACF Fiorentina for $170 million.

“Football was his passion, and Fiorentina became so seven years ago, when Rocco took charge of the Viola club and began to love its supporters, its colors, and the city of Florence,” the team said. “’Call me Rocco,’ he had simply said to everyone, with his extraordinary empathy.”

The pressure was on after his purchase, with Fiorentina having gone decades without a championship, and with a wealthy American owner (albeit an immigrant from Italy) providing capital. The team became a focus, with Commisso becoming its president in addition to his day job in New York running Mediacom.

“They can’t kick Rocco outta here, you know? They think they gonna criticize me and kick me out. No, that can’t happen,” Commisso told 60 Minutes. “Rocco’s a little different.”

He previously worked for companies including Cablevision, the Royal Bank of Canada, and Chase Manhattan Bank. From 2017, Commisso was the owner and chairman of the New York Cosmos, and from June 2019, the owner of the Italian football club Fiorentina.

Commisso began his business career at Pfizer. After returning to Columbia and graduating from business school, he spent ten years in the financial industry, initially at Chase Manhattan Bank (now J.P. Morgan Chase). In 1978, he began working with cable companies and other entertainment enterprises as a part of Chase's corporate financing department. He later worked at Royal Bank of Canada, where he led the bank's U.S. lending activities to the media and communications sectors. From 1986 to 1995, he was executive vice president, chief financial officer, and director of Cablevision Industries Corporation. During this time, Cablevision Industries grew from the 25th to the 8th largest cable company in the United States, with around 1.3 million customers at the time of its merger with Time Warner.

Terry Seidler obit

Terry Seidler, mother of former and current Padres chairmen, dies at 92

She was not on the list.

Therese “Terry” Seidler, the mother of two San Diego Padres chairmen and a woman who at times in her life owned shares of two Major League Baseball teams, died on Thursday. Seidler was a co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers for nearly two decades before selling the club in 1998; she owned a small share of the Padres at the time of her death. In a statement, the family said: “Terry Seidler, the matriarch of the Seidler family, passed away on December 18 at the age of 92. Terry's father Walter and brother Peter led the O'Malley family stewardship of the Brooklyn / L.A. Dodgers from 1950-1998. Terry became part owner of the San Diego Padres when her son Peter led the effort to purchase the Padres in 2012. She became an avid Padres fan and attended games regularly at Petco Park, cheering on the Padres in her brown & gold." Terry Seidler inherited half of the Dodgers along with her brother in 1979. The family sold the team in 1998. Peter Seidler was the Padres chairman from November 2020 until his death in November 2023. His brother, John, became chairman in March. The family announced in November that it is exploring a sale of the team. Terry Seidler, who taught Sunday school well into her 80s, was preceded in death by her husband, Rollie, who died in 2006. She is survived by nine of her 10 children, all of her 32 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

She was one of a few women to serve as the principal owner of a Major League Baseball team, inheriting half the team after the death of her father Walter O'Malley.

Born Therese "Terry" O'Malley in New York City on May 16, 1933, she was the eldest child of Katherine "Kay" (née Hanson) and Walter O'Malley. Her younger brother, Peter, was born in 1937. She spent her early life split between Amityville, New York, and Brooklyn.

O'Malley attended Froebel Academy and graduated from St. Francis Xavier Academy in Brooklyn. She enrolled in College of New Rochelle where she was elected freshman class president and Mission Queen as a senior, played basketball and softball and was a member of the student council in 1953–1954. In Amityville, she was a member of the Narrasketuck Yacht Club where she took part in sailboat racing. Her hobbies also included ice-skating and swimming.

Upon graduating from college, O'Malley served as executive secretary for the Dodgertown Summer Camp for Boys in Vero Beach, Florida, for three summers. When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, O'Malley moved to California with her family. She worked as her father's personal secretary.

After marriage to Roland Seidler, Terry devoted herself to her family. In 1978, she returned to the Dodgers executive office and served on their Board of Directors. She and Peter O'Malley, who had been serving as President of the team for a few years, inherited the team outright upon the death of their father in 1979. In 1981, Seidler was named secretary of the Dodgers Board of Directors in 1981, continuing in that role through 1998,[1] when the O'Malley's sold the team to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

On the 50th anniversary of the opening of Dodger Stadium, April 10, 2012, Seidler threw out the ceremonial first pitch. On the stadium's inaugural opening day, her mother Kay had thrown the ceremonial first pitch.

Tom Hicks obit

Tom Hicks, the Texas businessman who owned Stars, Rangers and Liverpool teams, dies at 79

 

He was not on the list.

DALLAS (AP) — Tom Hicks, the Texas businessman and philanthropist who owned two Dallas-area professional sports franchises and an English Premier League soccer team, has died. He was 79.

Spokesperson Lisa LeMaster said in statement that Hicks died peacefully Saturday in Dallas surrounded by family.

Hicks owned the NHL's Dallas Stars from 1995–2011, winning the Stanley Cup in 1999. He also owned baseball's Texas Rangers from 1998–2010, a period when they won three American West Division titles and made their first World Series appearance just months after the team was sold. In 2007, he acquired a 50% stake in Liverpool.

“Being shoulder to shoulder with him was always about more than ballparks and stadiums, though,” Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in a statement. “It was about personal respect, trust and friendship. We shared a lot of miles together, and I’ll miss him greatly. My heart goes out to his family.”

Hicks co-founded Hicks & Haas in 1984 and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst in 1989, helping reshape private equity and investing strategy.

“Tom Hicks was an innovative businessman and a pioneer in private equity,” fellow Texas businessman Ross Perot Jr. said in a statement. “He combined his commitment to business and sports through his ownership of the Stars and the Rangers.”

One of Hicks' most notable moments with the Rangers came 25 years ago at baseball's winter meetings in Dallas, when the team signed Alex Rodriguez, then a 25-year-old All-Star shortstop, to a $252 million, 10-year contract in free agency.

A-Rod's deal at the time was $2 million more than Hicks had paid to buy the entire team only 2 1/2 years earlier. It also then doubled the previous record for a sports contract, the $126 million, six-year agreement in October 1997 between forward Kevin Garnett and the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves.

Rodriguez led the American League in homers in all three of his seasons with the Rangers. He hit 156 homers in that span while the team's overall record was 216-270. He was traded to the New York Yankees at the start of spring training in 2004.

The Rangers' first World Series appearance in October 2010 came after the team was bought that August by an ownership group that then included Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan. After an initial agreement to buy the team from Hicks at that start of that year, a messy bankruptcy case ensued before the group finally acquired it at auction with a bid valued at $590 million.

The Stars, the NHL franchise that moved from Minnesota before the 1993-94 season, became the league's first champion from the Sun Belt when they raised the Stanley Cup in 1999 after beating Buffalo in Game 6. They made the Stanley Cup Final again the following season, losing a six-game series to New Jersey.

Brett Hull scored the Cup-winning goal for the Stars in 1999. Hicks had signed him to a $17 million, three-year contract in free agency the previous summer after Hull had been an All-Star in seven of his previous 11 seasons with the St. Louis Blues.

Before the 2001-02 season, the Stars moved a few blocks in downtown Dallas, from Reunion Arena to the American Airlines Center where the team still plays and shares with the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. The Stars, too, went into bankruptcy before being acquired by Canadian businessman Tom Gaglardi in 2011.

The Stars in a statement Sunday lauded the team's unprecedented on-ice success under Hicks' ownership.

“He also played an instrumental role in the development and planning of the American Airlines Center, along with the grassroots growth of hockey through the creation of numerous StarCenter facilities,” the team said. “Our franchise would not be in the position we are today without the ownership of Mr. Hicks. His legacy will be honored by our franchise for decades to come.”

Hicks served as paratrooper in the Army Reserves and was Commissioner of the American Battle Monuments Commission. He served on the University of Texas’s Board of Regents from 1994 to 1999.

Hicks is survived by his wife of 35 years, Cinda Cree Hicks, and his six children — Thomas Ollis Hicks Jr., Mack Hardin Hicks, John Alexander Hicks, Robert Bradley Hicks, William Cree Hicks and Catherine Forgrave Hicks.

His children released a joint statement, saying:

“Of everything he accomplished in his remarkable life, Tom Hicks’s most cherished title was, ‘Dad.’ No matter the trials and tribulations he faced in life, he was constant in his generosity and love for his family. He remains a guiding force for our family, and we are deeply honored to continue expanding his legacy. Although we are devastated by this loss, we are profoundly grateful to have been his children.”

The Rangers in a statement Sunday described Hicks as “a passionate and competitive owner and Texas Rangers fan. The club extends its thoughts and prayers to Mr. Hicks’ wife Cinda, his six children and his entire family as they mourn a legendary Texas businessman, philanthropist, and sportsman.”

Hicks co-founded the investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, previously owned 50% of the English football club Liverpool F.C., and was chairman of Hicks Holdings LLC, which owns and operates Hicks Sports Group, the company that formerly owned the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball, the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League, and the Mesquite Championship Rodeo. In 2010, Hicks sold the Rangers and Liverpool to satisfy his creditors, and the Stars went into bankruptcy the following year.

The son of a Texas radio station owner, Hicks was born on February 7, 1946, in Port Arthur, Texas, and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, in 1964. Hicks earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Texas in 1968, and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California in 1970. He was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon social fraternity.

Carol Davis obit

The First Lady of Raider Nation, Carol Davis, has passed away at 93

 

She was not on the list.

Earlier today at 1:05pm, Mark Davis lit the Al Davis Memorial Torch at Allegiant Stadium in honor of and tribute to his mother, Carol Davis, the First Lady of Raider Nation, who passed away on Friday afternoon at the age of 93.

Her strength and resilience, although not seen by the masses, were always on display to those who were fortunate to be in her presence. She was a strong woman who exuded a compassionate and loving side.

Carol provided unbridled support and unparalleled guidance to the Davis family and the Raiders organization for over 60 years. Her direct impact on the Greatness of the Raiders continues to be felt, cherished, and honored, and is woven into the fabric of this historic franchise. If Al was the heart of the Raiders, Carol was the soul.

The First Lady of Raider Nation stood proudly beside her husband, witnessing the Silver and Black claim an American Football League Championship and three World Championships of Professional Football, winning Super Bowls XI, XV and XVIII. Together, they experienced the greatest games played by the greatest players and led by the greatest coaches in the annals of professional sports.

Lovingly referred to as "Carolee" by her husband, she continued the tradition of him presenting a record nine inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when she performed those honors for the enshrinement of the great Tom Flores in 2021.

A year earlier, yet another poignant moment took place when Mrs. Davis became the first to light the Al Davis Memorial Torch at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas during the stadium's first game on September 21, 2020, honoring her late husband and his unyielding will to win.

Mrs. Davis has ascended to the heavens to take a rightful seat on the Throne of Greatness next to her husband Al, both of whom are wrapped in Cloaks of Immortality.

A private service will be held in Oakland, California, with plans being made for a celebration of life at a future date.

She was part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) and the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Davis was the widow of longtime Raiders' owner Al Davis and inherited the team upon his death on October 8, 2011.

Al Davis suggested in 1997 that Carol would succeed him should he no longer be able to run the Raiders franchise, saying it again in 2006.

Davis grew up in New York City, and graduated from New York University with a marketing degree. She worked as a buyer, selecting designer clothing for retail stores, before her husband joined the Raiders. Carol and Al Davis married in a Brooklyn synagogue in 1954 after Al's discharge from the U.S. Army; the couple established a first home in Atlantic Beach, near Al Davis's parents.

In late 1979, Davis suffered a serious heart attack which placed her in the hospital and in a coma for three weeks, but she later recovered completely.

Davis has one son, Mark (born 1955). After her husband's death in October 2011, Raiders chief executive Amy Trask said that the team "will remain in the Davis family." Carol and Mark held controlling interest in the Raiders. However, Carol mostly left the Raiders in the hands of Mark, who took over his father's old post of managing general partner and operating head of the franchise. Davis continued attending some games and was present for the groundbreaking of Allegiant Stadium in 2017. On September 21, 2020, Davis lit the Al Davis memorial torch prior to the Raiders first-ever game at Allegiant Stadium. In 2021, she presented Tom Flores for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Carol Sagal married Al Davis in 1954, and she has been part of the Oakland Raiders organization ever since Al was hired as coach in 1963 and eventually its owner. The Raiders won three Super Bowl titles under Al Davis' leadership following the 1976, '80 and '83 seasons. They also played on Los Angeles.

"Carol provided unbridled support and unparalleled guidance to the Davis family and the Raiders organization for over 60 years," the team said in a statement. "Her direct impact on the Greatness of the Raiders continues to be felt, cherished, and honored, and is woven into the fabric of this historic franchise. If Al was the heart of the Raiders, Carol was the soul."

Maurice Tempelsman obit

Maurice Tempelsman, Jackie Kennedy’s last love, dead at 95

 

He was not on the list.

Maurice Tempelsman, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ longtime partner until her death, has died at age 95.

The Belgian-born diamond tycoon died on Aug. 23 after complications from a fall, his son Leon told The New York Times.

Tempelsman, who amassed an impressive fortune selling diamonds from Africa’s Gold Coast, boasted a close relationship with the former First Lady for years — a bond that eventually turned romantic in the final chapter of her life.

Born in Aug. 1929 in Antwerp, Belgium to Orthodox Jewish parents, Tempelsman and his family fled Europe in 1940 as Nazi Germany invaded Belgium.

The family settled in New York City, with Tempelsman later enrolling at New York University for two years.

After dropping out, he worked at his father’s diamond merchant company, Leon Tempelsman & Son, prompting him to become an internationally influential diamond merchant.

By 1950, Tempelsman had persuaded the US government to buy African industrial diamonds and to stockpile them as strategic materials.

The jewelry honcho soon became a multi-millionaire, and served as the middleman between the African suppliers and the government for years.

Throughout his life, Tempelsman had maintained close ties with the government and was an ardent supporter of the Democratic Party, famously becoming a major donor and donating around $500,000 in the 1990s alone. 

He had also boasted close personal friendships with several prominent Democratic leaders, including Jacqueline Onassis’s late husband, President John F. Kennedy, as well as key figures from later administrations such as Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, both of whom served under President Bill Clinton.

Although Tempelsman had known Kennedy Onassis for years, their relationship didn’t turn romantic until the last decade of her life.

After the death of her second husband, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, in 1975, Tempelsman became Kennedy Onassis’ financial adviser and reportedly quadrupled her $26 million inheritance.

He was also fiercely protective of the former First Lady, and famously shooed away photographers who tried to snap them on their frequent walks through Central Park, the outlet adds.

After she was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 1993, Tempelsman became her primary caregiver and had moved into her apartment full-time.

The following year, Kennedy Onassis died at age 64. Tempelsman stood beside her children at the funeral.

Tempelsman is survived by the three children he shared with Lilly Bucholz, whom he married in 1949. The couple separated long before he began his relationship with Kennedy Onassis.

In addition to son Leon, and daughters, Rena and Marcy, the diamond tzar is survived by six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.