Denise Stillman
{{short description|American businessman}}{{Infobox person
| name = Denise Stillman
| image =
| image_size =
| other_names =
| birth_date = November 28, 1971
| birth_place = Chicago Corners, Wisconsin, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|11|7|1971|11|28}}
| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| nationality = American
| known_for = Establishing the Field of Dreams baseball complex
| website =
}}
Denise Miarecki Stillman (November 28, 1971 – November 7, 2018) was an American entrepreneur and preservationist. She was known for establishing the Field of Dreams complex in Dyersville, Iowa.
Early life
Denise Marie Miarecki was born in 1971 in Chicago Corners, Wisconsin, to Gale and Wanda Miarecki, one of their four children.{{Cite web |title=Read Ms. Denise Miarecki Stillman's Obituary & Leave Condolences |url=https://everloved.com/life-of/denise-stillman/obituary/ |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=everloved.com |language=en}}
Her family moved to Goose Lake in Coal City, Illinois, where she graduated from Coal City High School in 1989. She graduated from Bradley University in 1992, before earning a master's degree in Business Administration at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1999.
Career
File:Field of Dreams (7017559801).jpg baseball field, in Dyersville, Iowa, pictured in 2012]]
Upon leaving school, Miarecki began an eighteen-year career in marketing. In 2012, two years after first visiting the site with her family,{{Cite web |title=Denise Miarecki Stillman: Baseball Heaven: Northwestern Magazine - Northwestern University |url=https://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/summer2013/alumnilife/denise-miarecki-stillman-baseball-heaven.html |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=www.northwestern.edu}} she purchased the baseball field in Dyersville, Iowa, featured in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, from the Lansing family. She established the company Go The Distance Baseball and created a youth sports tournament complex—the All-Star Ballpark Heaven{{Cite web |last=Ivanisevic |first=Alex |title=Owner of the Field of Dreams passes away this week |url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2018/11/09/field-dreams-movie-site-baseball-field-owner-denise-stillman-dies-cancer-dyersville-iowa/1946687002/ |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=The Des Moines Register |language=en-US}}—with an intent to host a Major League Baseball (MLB) game at the venue.{{Cite web |date=2021-08-11 |title=Dying wish of late 'Field of Dreams' owner finally comes true |url=https://www.wqad.com/article/sports/dying-wish-of-field-of-dreams-owner-comes-true/526-5d66d4fb-733a-4d16-9243-b060fcc2f702 |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=wqad.com |language=en-US}} In 2021, three years after her death, the venue, which is now named Field of Dreams, hosted an MLB game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees. The game was titled MLB at Field of Dreams.{{cite web |last=Harrigan |first=Thomas |date=November 23, 2020 |title=Field of Dreams game set for Aug. 12, 2021 |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-at-field-of-dreams-game-date |access-date=November 24, 2020 |website=MLB.com |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Evans |first1=Kyle |date=August 13, 2021 |title=Yankees rally late, then blow slugfest to White Sox in Field of Dreams game |url=https://fingerlakes1.com/2021/08/12/yankees-rally-late-then-blow-slugfest-to-white-sox-in-field-of-dreams-game/ |access-date=August 13, 2021 |website=Fingerlakes1.com}}
Personal life
Stillman was first married to Mike Stillman.{{Cite web |date=2022-05-20 |title=Brother Rice Graduate Earns College Scholar-Athlete Mention For Golf |url=https://patch.com/illinois/oaklawn/brother-rice-graduate-earns-college-scholar-athlete-mention-golf |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=Oak Lawn, IL Patch |language=en}} In 2016, she remarried, to Tom Mietzel. She had two children: a son and a daughter.{{Cite web |title=In Memoriam: In Memoriam |url=https://magazine.northwestern.edu/in-memoriam?decade=1990 |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=magazine.northwestern.edu}}
Death
Stillman died from liver cancer in 2018, aged 46.
Notes
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Category:Deaths from cancer in Illinois
Category:Deaths from liver cancer in the United States
Category:20th-century American businesswomen
Category:21st-century American businesswomen
Category:Bradley University alumni
Category:Northwestern University alumni