Gordon Gund
From Hoopedia
Twenty-three seasons ago, it looked as though the Cavaliers might be headed out of Northeast Ohio until Gordon, now 66 and a native of Cleveland, and his brother George stepped in to purchase the club at the last minute, keeping the team at The Coliseum.
The Gunds presided over the resurgence of The Coliseum and the design and construction of Gund Arena which opened at the beginning of the 1994-95 season. Under the guidance of the Gunds, building records were set in attendance and bookings in both facilities, while the Cavaliers recorded one of the largest increases in home attendance in the NBA over the past 20 seasons. In October 1996, Gund was elected Chairman of the NBA’s Board of Governors and served in that capacity for three years.
In March of 2005, Gordon Gund sold a majority ownership stake in the Cavaliers, including the lease rights to Gund Arena (renamed Quicken Loans Arena in September of 2005), to the group headed by current Cavaliers majority owner, Dan Gilbert and fellow minority owner David Katzman. Gordon retained a minority ownership stake in the franchise.
As a former co-owner, with George, of the Minnesota North Stars of the National Hockey League, Gordon and his brother were instrumental in building that franchise before its eventual sale in the spring of 1990. At that time, Gordon and George were granted an NHL expansion team that began play as the San Jose Sharks for the 1991-92 season. The Gunds sold their majority stake in the Sharks during February of 2002.
The expertise displayed by Gordon in the sports world has been evident in his other interests as well. He serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gund Investment Corporation, which is involved in diversified investment activities. Gordon is a director of the Kellogg Company of Battle Creek, Michigan, and of Corning Incorporated of Corning, New York. He also recently served as a board member of the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Gordon now devotes a great deal of energy to national charitable and philanthropic causes. In 1971, he and his wife, Lulie, were members of the founding group of The Foundation Fighting Blindness, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland and Gordon is its National Chairman. This foundation is dedicated to finding treatments and cures for retinitis pigmentosa and allied degenerative diseases of the retina, such as Usher syndrome and macular degeneration. These diseases as a group affect more than nine million Americans and are the leading causes of blindness and deafblindness in the United States today.
Gordon is a graduate of Harvard University and has honorary doctorates from the Goteburg University in Sweden, University of Maryland, Whittier College and the University of Vermont.
