Mike Ilitch
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Mike Ilitch was born July 20, 1929 in Macedonia. He is owner of Little Caesar's, an international pizza chain, the first of which he opened in Detroit in 1959. He later purchased two Detroit sports teams — the Detroit Red Wings, bought in 1982 and the Detroit Tigers, bought in 1992, as well as the Fox Theatre. He also owned the Detroit Drive of the Arena Football League from 1988 to 1993.
In his hometown of Detroit, Ilitch owns a number of abandoned buildings in the downtown area. He is pushing to demolish most of the structures he owns, and successfully (though controversially) gained the demolition of the Madison-Lenox Hotel in May 2005.
Ilitch was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.