Mike Ilitch Net Worth

What was Mike Ilitch's Net Worth?

Mike Ilitch was an American businessman and restaurateur who had a net worth of $4 billion at the time of his death in 2017. Mike Ilitch founded and owned the fast food pizza franchise Little Caesars. He also owned a number of sports teams, notably the NHL's Detroit Red Wings and MLB's Detroit Tigers. Ilitch was instrumental in the redevelopment of Downtown Detroit, having purchased and renovated the Fox Theatre and moved his business headquarters there.

Early Life and Education

Mike Ilitch was born on July 20, 1929 in Detroit, Michigan to Macedonian immigrants Sultana and Sotir. He was educated at Cooley High School before serving in the US Marine Corps for four years.

Minor League Baseball

Ilitch began his career playing minor league baseball from 1952 to 1955. He played for teams affiliated with the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, and Washington Senators, mostly at second base. Due to a knee injury, Ilitch ultimately ended his baseball career.

Little Caesars

In 1959, Ilitch founded the pizza restaurant Little Caesar's Pizza Treat with his wife Marian. The first location was in a strip mall in Garden City, Michigan. In 1962, the first franchise location opened in Warren. The restaurant's name was ultimately shortened to Little Caesars in 1971. By the late 1980s, there were restaurant locations in all 50 states. Over the subsequent decades, Little Caesars expanded its operations to countries throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company is owned by Ilitch Holdings, which was established in 1999.

Sports Team Ownership

Ilitch owned a number of Detroit sports teams during his lifetime. His first team was the short-lived WFL football team the Detroit Wheels, which didn't even make it through the inaugural 1974 WFL season before folding. Next, Ilitch owned the professional softball team the Detroit Caesars, which played from 1977 to 1979 and won the league championship the first two seasons. The team included such former Detroit Tigers players as Jim Northrup, Jim Price, and Norman Cash. Ilitch moved on to professional ice hockey after that, purchasing the NHL's Detroit Red Wings from longtime owner Bruce Norris in 1982. He helped turn the Red Wings into one of the best teams in the league, especially in the 1990s, when the team won two consecutive Stanley Cups. The Red Wings claimed two more Stanley Cups in 2002 and 2008. Later, during the 2015-16 season, the team set a North American professional sports record with 25 consecutive seasons in the playoffs. Among his other teams, Ilitch established the AFL football team the Detroit Drive in 1988.

Ilitch's other big sports team was MLB's Detroit Tigers, which he purchased from fellow pizza magnate Tom Monaghan in 1992. However, he did not initially have as much success with the Tigers as he did with the Red Wings, as the team amassed losing records in 12 of the first 13 seasons under his ownership. This was despite Ilitch moving the Tigers to the newly built Comerica Park in 2000 to boost their performance. Finally, in 2006, the Tigers experienced success with a 95-67 record and their first appearance in the playoffs in almost 20 years. After winning the ALCS, the team faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2006 World Series, losing in five games. The Tigers had their next best season in 2011, winning the AL Central title. This time, they fell in the ALCS to the Texas Rangers. The Tigers clinched the AL Central title again the next season, and swept the Yankees in the ALCS. However, they were swept in the 2012 World Series by the San Francisco Giants. The Tigers claimed two more consecutive AL Central titles in 2013 and 2014.

Charitable Endeavors

Through Little Caesars, Ilitch launched the Love Kitchen, a traveling restaurant designed to feed people during natural disasters. He later created a children's charity, as well as a veterans program to provide business opportunities to honorably discharged military veterans. In other charitable endeavors, Ilitch discreetly paid years of rent for civil rights activist Rosa Parks after she was attacked in her apartment in 1994.

Personal Life and Death

Ilitch was married to his wife Marian from 1933 until his death. They had seven children together: Denise, Ron, Michael Jr., Christopher, Lisa, Atanas, and Carole.

On February 10, 2017, Ilitch passed away in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan. He was 87.