Fred Wilpon | |
|---|---|
 Wilpon in 1982 | |
| Born | (1936-11-22)November 22, 1936 (age 88) Brooklyn,New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Occupation(s) | Real estate developer, executive |
| Known for | Co-founder ofSterling Equities Former majority owner of theNew York Mets |
| Spouse | Judy Kessler |
| Children | 3, includingJeff Wilpon |
| Parent | Nathan Wilpon |
| Relatives | Saul Katz (brother-in-law) |
Fred Wilpon (born November 22, 1936)[1] is an American real estate developer and formerbaseball executive. He was principal owner of theNew York Mets from 1987 to 2020.
Wilpon was raised in aJewish family[2] inBensonhurst,Brooklyn.[3] His father, Nathan Wilpon, managed a funeral home.[4] Wilpon attendedLafayette High School in Brooklyn, where he was responsible for getting his friend,Sandy Koufax, to join the baseball team.[5][4] Wilpon was a big fan of baseball and pitched his freshman year in college until he was injured. In 1958, he graduated with a B.A. from theUniversity of Michigan.[3][6] After college, he sold calculators for a time while his wife worked as a secretary forBranch Rickey, the former president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, whom he knew from the neighborhood.[7]
In 1972, he cofoundedSterling Equities, a commercial real estate development company, with his brother-in-lawSaul Katz.[8] They built a development of townhouses inTarrytown, a suburb inWestchester County which was very successful. Seeking to minimize their tax obligations, they purchased real estate throughout the country that had favorable tax treatment which turned out to be a boon since they were unknowingly buying property at the bottom of the market.[7] He still serves as the company's chairman.
_(cropped).jpg)
In 1980, Wilpon bought a one-percent stake in the Mets whenCharles Shipman Payson sold the team, with publishing companyDoubleday & Co. holding the remaining interest. He gradually increased his stake to five percent.[9] During the Mets championship season of1986, Doubleday presidentNelson Doubleday Jr. sold Doubleday & Co. toBertelsmann AG.[2] Wilpon had a right of first refusal in the event of a sale and threatened to exercise it.[2] In the resulting settlement, Doubleday and Wilpon agreed to purchase the Mets for $81 million, with each holding a 50 percent stake.[2] In2002, the Wilpon family purchased the remaining 50% of the Mets from Doubleday for $391 million, giving Wilpon sole ownership of the Mets. Wilpon served as president of the team between 1980 and 2002, CEO from 1980 to 2020, and chairman of the board from 2002 to 2020. In September 2020, a deal was reached for billionaire hedge fund managerSteve Cohen to purchase 95% of the Mets from Wilpon, his son C.O.O. Jeff Wilpon and co-owner Saul Katz for approximately $2.4 billion and on October 30, Cohen was approved by MLB's owners.
Wilpon was one of the investors who invested a significant amount of money withBernard Madoff which was lost when thePonzi scheme collapsed in December 2008.[10] It was reported that Wilpon had "lost" about $700 million because of Madoff, which led to speculation that would be forced to sell the team.[11] Since then Wilpon has said that his losses were "substantially less" than that figure.[12] Reports later surfaced that Wilpon and his family actually made about $300 million with Madoff and had not lost money as previously reported.[13]
As a result, in December 2010, Wilpon was named in a lawsuit filed byIrving Picard on behalf of the victims of Madoff'sinvestment scandal and on January 28, 2011 Wilpon issued a statement seeking "one or more strategic partners" interested in buying 20 to 25% interest in the Mets to offset pending losses due to litigation (which may total up to $1 billion).[14] Wilpon and his partner and brother-in-lawSaul Katz were involved in another Ponzi scheme which was orchestrated bySamuel Israel III and they were forced to pay $13 million to investors when Israel's hedge fund collapsed.[15] It was revealed that Wilpon utilized Madoff in running the Mets' finances. It became a common practice to negotiate deferred money into players' contracts and then put that money with Madoff to invest because they were able to make money for themselves before paying players.[16] The lawsuit also contends that Madoff funds were used to cover team expenses such as payroll and itsminor league club in Brooklyn,[17] as well as financing the creation of the cable networkSportsNet New York andCiti Field.[18]
In an interview while in prison, Madoff claimed that Wilpon "knew nothing" about his Ponzi scheme.[19] After it was reported thatMajor League Baseball loaned the Mets $25 million in November 2010 to shore up their finances, Wilpon is now willing to sell up to a 49% ownership stake of the team[20] at a cost of $200 million.[21] On May 26, 2011, it was reported that Wilpon has agreed to sell a minority share of the Mets toDavid Einhorn, president of the hedge fundGreenlight Capital,[22] but ended negotiations on September 1.[23] After the Mets received a $40 million loan fromBank of America in November 2011, Major League Baseball is monitoring the situation closely and is prepared to take control of the team from Wilpon if he defaults on the loan.[24] The trustee to the Madoff trust, Irving H. Picard, had declared that the Wilpons had enriched themselves over many years of profitable investing with Mr. Madoff while ignoring repeated warnings that he might have been a fraud. On March 19, 2012, Wilpon agreed to settle Picard's lawsuit for $162 million.[25]
The Judy and Fred Wilpon Family Foundation donated $5 million to the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts to establish the Irene and Morris B. Kessler Presidential Scholarship Fund named in honor of his wife's parents, Romanian immigrant and dentist, Morris Kessler, and Irene Nass.[26] The Wilpons have also donated $5 million to create the University of Michigan Bone & Joint Injury Prevention & Rehabilitation Center, and $4 million for the Wilpon Baseball and Softball Complex.[26]
Wilpon is married to Judy Kessler whom he met in college. She is a 1958 graduate of theUniversity of Michigan.[3] His daughter, Robin Wilpon, is married to Phillip Wachtler, son of former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals,Sol Wachtler.[27][28] His sonJeff Wilpon was the COO of the Mets until 2020 and is currently the executive vice-president of Sterling Equities.[29] His son Bruce Wilpon is also a partner at Sterling Equities[30] and was married to Yuki Oshima-Wilpon, daughter of Japanese billionaireKenshin Ōshima.[31][32] As a teenager Wilpon was a teammate ofBaseball Hall of FamerSandy Koufax on Brooklyn'sLafayette High School baseball team. Wilpon and Koufax remain close friends, with Koufax an annual visitor at the Mets'spring training facility inPort St. Lucie, Florida and Koufax being asked to testify at the Madoff trial.[33]
At the urging of friends, Koufax did go out for baseball in his senior year at Lafayette. He played first base. The team captain was Fred Wilpon, a lefty with a "crackling" curveball, who decades later became the owner of the New York Mets.