DETROIT — Metro Detroiters are mourning the loss of a legend in the world of business and sports. Mike Ilitch, founder of Little Caesars Pizza, owner of the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings and chairman of Ilitch Holdings, died Friday, Feb. 10 at a local hospital. He was 87.
Ilitch was not only known for his outstanding business acumen, but also his passion for all things Detroit. Thanks to a $40 million gift from he and his wife Marian, Wayne State University broke ground in July 2016 on the Mike Ilitch School of Business, a new academic building on the public university’s Detroit campus. It was the largest gift in the school’s history.
“There is an initial desire to say that Mike Illitch’s greatest accomplishment has to surround real estate. He was a brilliant investor and ahead of his time in terms of his holdings. His greatest contribution to the City was his steadfast devotion to it. He invested when it seemed very few still did and his actions and that of his family and organization have served as a beacon of hope for the city. He worked tirelessly showing the world that Detroit belonged among the elite as a world-class city. The legacy of Mike Illitch will certainly shine bright and inspire generations,” said Andy Gutman, president of Southfield, Mich.-based Farbman Group.
Born in Detroit in 1929 to Macedonian immigrants Sotir Ilitch and Sultana Tassel Ilitch, Mike Ilitch graduated from Cooley High School in 1947. The Detroit Tigers offered him a minor league contract, but he decided instead to join the U.S. Marine Corps. Ilitch served from 1948-1952 at Parris Island, Quantico and Pearl Harbor. After he was discharged from the Marines, the Tigers again offered Ilitch a minor league contract, and he played shortstop in the minor league system for four seasons (1952-1955).
With $10,000, Ilitch opened the family’s first pizza store on May 8, 1959, in Garden City, Mich., a western suburb of Detroit, according to Crain’s Detroit Business. They sold their first franchise in 1962 for $5,000, and Little Caesars Enterprises Inc. now has more than 4,000 around the globe.
Little Caesars is the world’s largest carryout pizza chain and the third largest pizza chain in the world with stores in all 50 states as well as 18 countries and territories worldwide as of November 2016, according to the company’s website.
Success in the pizza business enabled Ilitch to invest in other businesses in food, sports and entertainment. All businesses are headquartered in the Detroit metropolitan area and will continue to operate under family ownership led by Christopher Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings Inc.
The Ilitch companies in the food, sports and entertainment industries collectively employ 23,000 full-time and part-time workers worldwide and posted revenues of $3.4 billion in 2016. The Ilitch companies include Ilitch Holdings, Little Caesars Pizza, Blue Line Foodservice Distribution, the Detroit Red Wings, the Detroit Tigers, Olympia Entertainment, Olympia Development, Little Caesars Pizza Kits Fundraising Program and Champion Foods.
The Ilitch family has a net worth of $5.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The death of Ilitch comes amid the construction of a new arena for the Detroit Red Wings. The arena is scheduled to open downtown this September for the 2017-2018 NHL hockey season. The arena is the centerpiece of The District Detroit, a 50-block sports and entertainment district in downtown Detroit. Included in The District Detroit are six theaters and three multi-use sports venues: the Little Caesars Arena under construction; Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers; and Ford Field, the den of the Detroit Lions.
A $1.2 billion development project, The District Detroit will also feature residential, office and retail developments that connect those venues into one contiguous, walkable area for people who crave a vibrant downtown setting.
In addition, Little Caesars broke ground in September 2016 on a new 234,000-square-foot headquarters building located at Woodward Avenue and Columbia Street within The District Detroit. The $150 million, nine-story structure is being built next to the pizza chain’s current headquarters in the Fox Theatre. The project is slated for completion in 2018.
“Mr. Ilitch helped pave the way for Detroit’s resurgence as one of the first businessmen to invest in the city’s potential. His legacy seems endless—the Little Caesars pizza empire, owner of the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers, supporter of youth sports, real estate mogul—and by keeping his operations in Detroit, it is evident that he never gave up hope on his home city, even when times were tough. His investments over the last 60 years will never be forgotten, and his vision will live on in the new arena and surrounding district in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood,” said Todd Sachse, CEO and founder of Detroit-based Sachse Construction.
In addition to his wife and business partner of 61 years, survivors include seven adult children: Denise (Jim Scalici), Ron, Michael Jr. (Noelle), Lisa (Glenn Murray), Atanas (Patty), Christopher (Kelle), Carole, 22 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
— Matt Valley