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Ted Lerner

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Ted Lerner
Photograph of Ted Lerner standing and waving to a crowd
Lerner in 2009, Washington, D.C.
Born
Theodore Nathan Lerner

(1925-10-15)October 15, 1925
Washington, D.C., U.S.
DiedFebruary 12, 2023(2023-02-12) (aged 97)
Chevy Chase, Maryland, U.S.
EducationGeorge Washington University (AA, LLB)
Occupation(s)Former managing principal owner of the Washington Nationals and Lerner Enterprises
Spouse
Annette Lerner
​
(m. 1951)​
Children3, including Mark
Military career
Service / branchUnited States Army
Years of service1944–1946
Battles / warsWorld War II

Theodore Nathan Lerner (October 15, 1925 – February 12, 2023) was an American real estate developer and managing principal owner of the Washington Nationals baseball team.[1] He was the founder of Lerner Enterprises, the largest private landowner in the Washington metropolitan area, which owns commercial, retail, residential, and hotel properties, as well as Chelsea Piers in New York City.[2] In 2022, with a net worth of $6.4 billion, he was tied for the richest resident of Maryland.[3][4]

Early life and education

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Lerner was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in Northwest Washington D.C.,[5] the eldest of three children born to Mayer, a 1921 emigrant from British Mandatory Palestine (modern day Israel), and Ethel, who immigrated from Lithuania.[5] He attended Raymond Elementary School, MacFarland Junior High, and graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1944.[5]

As a teenager, Lerner sold newspapers, using the proceeds to attend baseball games. He was an usher during the 1937 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.[6]

Lerner served with the U.S. Army as a typist during the latter part of World War II, where he was stationed at Fort Hood in Waco, Texas.[7][5] Using the G.I. Bill, he attended George Washington University, where he received an Associate of Arts in 1948 and then an L.L.B. from the George Washington University Law School in 1950.[5][8] While in law school, he sold homes on the weekends, which piqued his interest in real estate.[5]

Career

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In 1952, at age 26, Lerner borrowed $250 from his wife and founded Lerner Enterprises, a real estate development company, in Rockville, Maryland.[9]

In the late 1950s, he developed Wheaton Plaza in partnership with Isadore Gudelsky. In 1968, he developed Tysons Corner Center on land that had in the recent past featured apple orchards and cow pastures.[10]

He developed 22,000 homes and 6,000 and apartments, along with numerous office buildings as well as Chelsea Piers, Tysons II, and Dulles Town Center.

Washington Nationals

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The Washington Nationals franchise (then known as the Montreal Expos) was owned and operated by Major League Baseball from February 15, 2002.[11] In 2006, Bud Selig chose Lerner as his family as the buyer of the team, for which he paid $450 million; the official transfer of ownership to Lerner occurred on July 24, 2006..[12]

The Lerner family is the majority owner of the franchise, controlling over 90% of the shares. Lerner retired as managing principal owner in 2018, ceding the role to his son, Mark Lerner.[1] Under Lerner's ownership, the Nationals won four National League East division championships and appeared in the postseason five times.[13] Lerner won a World Series ring when the Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in the 2019 World Series.[14]

He was also a partner in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League, the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association, the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association, and Capital One Arena.[15]

Philanthropy and accolades

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The Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Foundation provides support to many organizations, including: Food & Friends; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Shady Grove Adventist Hospital; Hadley's Park; the Weizmann Institute of Science; the Scleroderma Foundation of Greater Washington; YouthAids; Junior Achievement of the Greater Washington Area; the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School; and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, among many others. Ted and his wife Annette are founding members of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.[16]

The campus of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville is named in his and his wife's honor after a multimillion-dollar donation to the school. The lunch room in the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy was donated by the Lerner Family. The family has also donated the Lerner Family Health and Wellness Center and Theodore Lerner Hall at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. along with the Lerner Center at Hebrew University in Israel. The family donated the theater at Imagination Stage in Bethesda, Maryland.[17]

Notable achievements include:

Personal life and death

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Lerner accepted few of the awards he was offered and made few public appearances, preferring to remain relatively anonymous.[20]

On June 17, 1951, he married Annette M. Lerner. They had three children: Mark D. Lerner (married to Judy Lenkin Lerner), Debra Lerner Cohen (married to Edward L. Cohen) and Marla Lerner Tanenbaum (married to Robert K. Tanenbaum).[21] Ted Lerner had nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.[22]

Lerner contributed to the campaigns of Al Gore, Steny Hoyer, and Dianne Feinstein.[23]

Lerner died from pneumonia at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on February 12, 2023, at age 97.[22][17][15]

References

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  1. ^ a b Svrluga, Barry (June 14, 2018). "Nationals owner Ted Lerner, 92, to cede control of club to his son, Mark". The Washington Post.
  2. ^ Toscano, Paul (April 3, 2012). "The 10 Richest MLB Owners". CNBC. Archived from the original on January 10, 2015.
  3. ^ Mattu, Rohan (October 18, 2022). "7 Maryland billionaires among the 400 richest in the nation, Forbes says". CBS News.
  4. ^ "Ted Lerner, Washington Nationals' Billionaire Owner, Dies". Bloomberg News. February 13, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Jaffe, Harry (June 1, 2007). "Ted Lerner Plays Ball – The dealmaker and family man has realized a dream: He owns Washington's baseball team. Here's how he got to where he is—and where the team goes from here". Washingtonian.
  6. ^ Kampeas, Ron (February 17, 2023). "Ted Lerner, real estate developer who returned baseball to Washington, dies at 97". The Times of Israel.
  7. ^ Mullins, Luke (April 11, 2016). "The 30-Year Legal Battle Between the Owner of the Washington Nationals and His Estranged Brother". The Washingtonian.
  8. ^ a b c d "Theodore N. Lerner". George Washington University Law School.
  9. ^ "The World's Billionaires – Ted Lerner". Forbes.
  10. ^ Hagerty, James R. (February 16, 2023). "Ted Lerner Built His Fortune With an Early Bet on Malls". The Wall Street Journal.
  11. ^ "Nationals deal done". CBC News. July 24, 2006.
  12. ^ Bernstein, Adam; Hedgpeth, Dana (May 2, 2006). "Behind a Wall of Silence, Lerner Has Built an Empire". The Washington Post.
  13. ^ Svrluga, Barry (April 11, 2022). "The Lerner family will explore selling the Washington Nationals". The Washington Post.
  14. ^ Svrluga, Barry (October 19, 2019). "For owner Ted Lerner, Nationals' World Series berth is a family celebration". The Washington Post.
  15. ^ a b Goldstein, Richard (February 13, 2023). "Ted Lerner, Developer Who Bought and Built the Washington Nationals, Dies at 97". The New York Times.
  16. ^ Camerato, Jessica (February 14, 2023). "Remembering Nationals owner Ted Lerner". Major League Baseball.
  17. ^ a b Camerato, Jessica (February 13, 2023). "Nationals owner Ted Lerner dies at 97". Major League Baseball.
  18. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". American Academy of Achievement.
  19. ^ Allen, Scott (March 24, 2023). "Nats will induct Ted Lerner into their Ring of Honor, wear commemorative patch". The Washington Post.
  20. ^ O'Connell, Jonathan (November 10, 2015). "The problem with Ted Lerner's lifetime achievement award". The Washington Post.
  21. ^ Heath, Thomas; Nakamura, David (May 4, 2006). "After 17 Months, Baseball Introduces Nats' Owners". The Washington Post.
  22. ^ a b Bernstein, Adam; Schudel, Matt (February 13, 2023). "Ted Lerner, real estate magnate and Nationals owner, dies at 97". The Washington Post.
  23. ^ Barr, Andrew (May 4, 2006). "New Nationals owner has given to the Dems". The Hill.
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