George Gillett Jr., the American businessman who bought the Montreal Canadiens in 2001, has died aged 87, The Globe and Mail reports.
Gillett, who was born in Racine, Wisconsin, paid US$180 million for an 80.1 per cent stake in the NHL club, along with the arena now called the Bell Centre. Many fans feared at the time that an owner from the United States might move the team, but the newspaper says his tenure revived the franchise and that he treated the club almost as a public trust.
His later joint takeover of Liverpool Football Club, funded with heavy borrowing, ended in fan protests and a forced sale. Over a career of nearly six decades he also held stakes in the Miami Dolphins, a Nascar team, the Harlem Globetrotters and several ski resorts.
Source: The Globe and Mail