Marian Bayoff Ilitch (born January 7, 1933) is an American businesswoman, who is the co-founder of Little Caesars Pizza with her late husband, Mike Ilitch.
Personal life
Marian Bayoff was born in 1933 and raised in Dearborn, Michigan, the daughter of Macedonian immigrants.
She met her future husband Mike Ilitch, also a child of Macedonian immigrants, in 1954 when the two went on a blind date arranged by his father. A year later, they married. The couple had seven children together.
Business
The Ilitches founded Little Caesars Pizza in 1959, which they expanded as a franchise. They have since expanded their interests to include restaurants, entertainment, sports and gaming.
Casinos and Indian gaming
One of the original investors in Detroit’s MotorCity Casino, Ilitch realized an opportunity to purchase total interest in the casino resort complex from various minor stakeholders and Mandalay Resort Group in 2005. Michigan gaming laws prohibit one company from owning more than one Detroit casino property. With Ilitch as owner, MotorCity Casino is reportedly one of the largest independently owned casino enterprises in the United States—likely the largest woman-owned casino in the U.S.
Ilitch and a partner, Michael J. Malik, Sr., have pursued other casino gambling interests outside of Detroit, and from coast to coast. They have acted as a developer of casinos for federally recognized tribes of Native Americans, who have started to use this as a means of generating revenues. They have worked with the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, developing Little River Casino Resort in Manistee, Michigan. Ilitch has partnered with the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Hampton Bays, New York on plans to develop a casino on Long Island. Ilitch also partnered with Barwest, LLC and the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians to develop casinos in Barstow, California.
American entrepreneur Mike Ilitch has an estimated net worth of$2.4 billion. He is the founder and owner of the international fast food franchise Little Caesars Pizza. He owns the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Detroit Tigers of the Major League Baseball (MLB). He also formed and owned the Detroit Caesars, a successful softball team that played throughout the 70s. Mike Ilitch was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003 as well as the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.
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