Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) Carl Pohlad, a self-made billionaire banker who owned Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins for the past 25 years, died yesterday at the age of 93.
Pohlad passed away at his home in Edina, Minnesota, with his three sons and many of his grandchildren at his side, the family said in a statement yesterday without disclosing the cause of death.
Pohlad bought the Twins for $38 million in 1984 and delivered World Series titles in 1987 and 1991. He was the 102nd-richest American with a net worth of $3.2 billion acquired from family businesses including banking, bottling and real estate, according to Forbes magazine.
“Carl was the leader of our family as well as the founder and leader of our family businesses,” the statement said. “We’ve loved and respected him and are enormously proud of his accomplishments. And we will all miss him deeply.”
He was president of Marquette Financial Cos., chairman of Mair Holdings Inc. and a director of Genmar Holdings Inc., according to the Twins’ 2008 media guide.
Born August 23, 1915, in West Des Moines, Iowa, Carl R. Pohlad played football at Gonzaga University before dropping out at the end of the season without graduating.
As Twins owner he brought the franchise its first World Series titles since moving from Washington in 1961, while the team also won division titles from 2002 to 2004 and in 2006.
‘Loyal and Caring’
“His devotion to the Minnesota Twins, the Twin Cities and Major League Baseball was remarkable,” baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. “In my long career I’ve never met a more loyal and caring human being.”
In 1997, Pohlad threatened to sell the team to businessman Don Beaver, who intended to move the franchise to North Carolina for the 1999 season. The commission that ran the Metrodome sued Pohlad to keep the team in the stadium and the sides eventually agreed to a new lease to keep the Twins in the venue, their home since 1982.
Believing that the Twins couldn’t survive in the Metrodome, Pohlad continued to entertain offers for the franchise and in November 2001 baseball’s owners voted to disband the Twins and Montreal Expos, the league’s two low-revenue clubs. The contraction plan, which had Pohlad’s support, failed the following February after a fight in the Minnesota courts and a grievance from the players’ union.
The Twins eventually reached agreement on a new ballpark, Target Field, which will open for the 2010 season.
Pohlad is survived by three sons: Jim, who oversees the Twins as their chief executive officer; Bob; and Bill. His wife of 56 years, Eloise, died in 2003. Funeral arrangements are pending.
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