Ted Lerner

{{Infobox person

| name = Ted Lerner

| alt = Photograph of Ted Lerner standing and waving to a crowd

| caption = Lerner in 2009, Washington, D.C.

| image = Ted_Lerner_August_21,_2009_(3843524051).jpg

| birth_name = Theodore Nathan Lerner

| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|10|15}}

| birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|2|12|1925|10|15}}

| death_place = Chevy Chase, Maryland, U.S.

| occupation = Former managing principal owner of the Washington Nationals and Lerner Enterprises

| education = George Washington University (AA, LLB)

| spouse = {{marriage|Annette Lerner|June 15, 1951}}

| children = 3, including Mark

| module = {{Infobox military person

| embed = yes

| allegiance =

| branch = United States Army

| serviceyears = 1944–1946

| rank =

| unit =

| battles = World War II

| awards = }}

}}

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.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/nationals-owner-ted-lerner-92-to-cede-control-of-club-to-son-mark/2018/06/14/3902cb24-6f80-11e8-afd5-778aca903bbe_story.html |title=Nationals owner Ted Lerner, 92, to cede control of club to his son, Mark |first=Barry |last=Svrluga | newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 14, 2018}} 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.{{cite news | url=https://www.cnbc.com/2012/04/03/The-10-Richest-MLB-Owners.html |title=The 10 Richest MLB Owners | first=Paul | last=Toscano | work=CNBC | date=April 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110215739/http://www.cnbc.com/id/46941774/The_10_Richest_MLB_Owners?slide=10 |archive-date=January 10, 2015 | url-status=live}} In 2022, with a net worth of $6.4 billion, he was tied for the richest resident of Maryland.{{Cite news | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/steve-bisciotti-ted-lerner-7-maryland-billionares-richest-in-united-states-forbes-400/ | title=7 Maryland billionaires among the 400 richest in the nation, Forbes says | first=Rohan | last=Mattu | work=CBS News | date=October 18, 2022}}{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-13/ted-lerner-washington-nationals-billionaire-owner-dies-at-97 |title=Ted Lerner, Washington Nationals' Billionaire Owner, Dies | work=Bloomberg News | date=February 13, 2023}}

Early life and education

Lerner was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in Northwest Washington D.C.,{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2007/06/01/ted-lerner-plays-ball/ | title=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 | first=Harry | last=Jaffe | work=Washingtonian | date=June 1, 2007}} the eldest of three children born to Mayer, a 1921 emigrant from British Mandatory Palestine (modern day Israel), and Ethel, who immigrated from Lithuania. He attended Raymond Elementary School, MacFarland Junior High, and graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1944.

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.{{cite news | url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/ted-lerner-real-estate-developer-who-returned-baseball-to-washington-dies-at-97/ | title=Ted Lerner, real estate developer who returned baseball to Washington, dies at 97 | first=Ron | last=Kampeas | work=The Times of Israel | date=17 February 2023}}

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.{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/04/11/legal-battle-between-owner-of-washington-nationals-ted-lerner-and-estranged-brother-larry-lerner/ | title=The 30-Year Legal Battle Between the Owner of the Washington Nationals and His Estranged Brother | first=Luke | last=Mullins | work=The Washingtonian | date=April 11, 2016}} 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.{{Cite web | url=https://alumni.gwu.edu/theodore-n-lerner | title=Theodore N. Lerner | work=George Washington University Law School}} While in law school, he sold homes on the weekends, which piqued his interest in real estate.

Career

In 1952, at age 26, Lerner borrowed $250 from his wife and founded Lerner Enterprises, a real estate development company, in Rockville, Maryland.{{cite web | url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/ted-lerner/ | work=Forbes | title=The World's Billionaires – Ted Lerner}}

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.{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/ted-lerner-built-his-fortune-with-an-early-bet-on-malls-91fb988c | title=Ted Lerner Built His Fortune With an Early Bet on Malls | first=James R. | last=Hagerty | work=The Wall Street Journal | date=February 16, 2023 | url-access=subscription}}

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=

The Washington Nationals franchise (then known as the Montreal Expos) was owned and operated by Major League Baseball from February 15, 2002.{{cite news | url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/nationals-deal-done-1.581628 | title=Nationals deal done | work=CBC News | date=July 24, 2006}} In 2006, Bud Selig chose Lerner and 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.{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/05/03/behind-a-wall-of-silence-lerner-has-built-an-empire/f78aac36-d8ac-4ea2-b002-e0a171b05fed/ | title=Behind a Wall of Silence, Lerner Has Built an Empire | first1=Adam | last1=Bernstein | first2=Dana | last2=Hedgpeth | work=The Washington Post | date=May 2, 2006}}

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. Under Lerner's ownership, the Nationals won four National League East division championships and appeared in the postseason five times.{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/04/11/washington-nationals-lerners-potential-sale/ | last=Svrluga | first=Barry | title=The Lerner family will explore selling the Washington Nationals | work=The Washington Post | date=April 11, 2022}} Lerner won a World Series ring when the Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in the 2019 World Series.{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/for-owner-ted-lerner-nationals-world-series-berth-is-a-family-celebration/2019/10/19/b8e8e694-f28c-11e9-8693-f487e46784aa_story.html | last=Svrluga | first=Barry | title=For owner Ted Lerner, Nationals' World Series berth is a family celebration | work=The Washington Post | date=October 19, 2019}}

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.

Philanthropy and accolades

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.{{Cite news | url=https://www.mlb.com/news/ted-lerner-remembrance | title=Remembering Nationals owner Ted Lerner | first=Jessica | last=Camerato | work=Major League Baseball | date=February 14, 2023}}

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.

Notable achievements include:

1990 American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award of Excellence{{cite web | title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement | publisher=American Academy of Achievement | url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#business}}
Elected to the Washington Business Hall of Fame by Junior Achievement of the National Capital Area in 2003
Elected to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington Sports Hall of Fame in 2007
Elected to the Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame in 2015
Inducted into the Ring of Honor at Nationals Park in 2023{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/03/24/nationals-honor-ted-lerner/ | title=Nats will induct Ted Lerner into their Ring of Honor, wear commemorative patch | first=Scott | last=Allen | work=The Washington Post | date=March 24, 2023}}

Personal life and death

Lerner accepted few of the awards he was offered and made few public appearances, preferring to remain relatively anonymous.{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2015/11/10/the-problem-with-ted-lerners-lifetime-achievement-award/ | title=The problem with Ted Lerner’s lifetime achievement award | first=Jonathan | last=O'Connell | work=The Washington Post | date=November 10, 2015}}

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).{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/03/AR2006050301121.html | work=The Washington Post | title=After 17 Months, Baseball Introduces Nats' Owners | first1=Thomas | last1=Heath | first2=David | last2=Nakamura | date=May 4, 2006}} Ted Lerner had nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Lerner contributed to the campaigns of Al Gore, Steny Hoyer, and Dianne Feinstein.{{Cite news | url=https://thehill.com/homenews/news/8061-new-nationals-owner-has-given-to-the-dems/ | title=New Nationals owner has given to the Dems | first= Andrew | last=Barr | work=The Hill | date=May 4, 2006}}

Lerner died from pneumonia at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on February 12, 2023, at age 97.{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/13/washington-nationals-owner-ted-lerner-dead/ | title=Ted Lerner, real estate magnate and Nationals owner, dies at 97 | first1=Adam | last1=Bernstein | first2=Matt | last2=Schudel | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=February 13, 2023 | url-access=subscription}}{{Cite news | url=https://www.mlb.com/news/ted-lerner-dies-at-97 | title=Nationals owner Ted Lerner dies at 97 | first=Jessica | last=Camerato | work=Major League Baseball | date=February 13, 2023}}{{cite news | last=Goldstein | first=Richard | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/13/sports/football/ted-lerner-dead.html | title=Ted Lerner, Developer Who Bought and Built the Washington Nationals, Dies at 97 | work=The New York Times | date=February 13, 2023 | url-access=limited}}

References

External links

[https://lerner.com/ Lerner Enterprises]
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/08/AR2006100801064.html Washington Post article – A Family That Plays Hardball]
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/08/AR2006100801064.html Washington Post article – A Dynasty of Closed Ranks]

Category:1925 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:American billionaires

Category:American businesspeople in real estate

Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent

Category:American people of Palestinian-Jewish descent

Category:Businesspeople from Washington, D.C.

Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Maryland

Category:George Washington University alumni

Category:George Washington University Law School alumni

Category:George Washington University trustees

Category:Jewish American baseball people