Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr.

Edward John DeBartolo Sr. (May 17, 1909 – December 19, 1994) was an American businessman and real-estate developer. In 1971, his Ohio-based corporation was ranked 47th among the nation's top 400 construction contractors. In 1983, DeBartolo was included on Forbes magazine's first Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.

Early years The second of six children, DeBartolo was born in Youngstown, Ohio, a center of steel production that was also a major destination for immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. DeBartolo's parents, Anthony Paonessa and Rose Villani, had emigrated to the United States from Italy. DeBartolo never knew his biological father, who died suddenly before his birth.

After Anthony Paonessa's death, Rose Villani Paonessa married Michael DeBartolo, and Edward took his stepfather's family name. In 1986, DeBartolo assisted in financing Allied Stores Corporation's acquisition of Federated Department Stores, During the course of the bankruptcy, DeBartolo's cash flow was severely impaired, due to Federated's nonpayment as well as the real estate recession of the time. DeBartolo's Federated positions were all realigned when Federated emerged from bankruptcy.

In May 1988, the Securities and Exchange Commission began a probe against him to determine whether DeBartolo had secretly and illegally aided Paul Bilzerian's hostile takeover attempts through "stock parking", in which one party purchases shares in coordination with another to keep legal ownership separated and avoid either party's holdings exceeding disclosure thresholds.

In 1988, DeBartolo partnered with Dillard's Department Stores to buy Higbee's of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1992, William Dillard, founder of Dillard's, bought DeBartolo's share, except for the property interest in Higbee's Public Square flagship store in Cleveland (sold to Tower City in 2001), and renamed it the Higbee chain. DeBartolo's idea of a retail real estate developer going forward with new projects easily and quickly by virtue of anchor stores which he owned, would never become a reality.

As a result of several years' impaired cash flow, DeBartolo prepared to take his company public as a real estate investment trust or "REIT". Most of DeBartolo's competitors were preparing to do the same, their operations suffering from a lack of capital in the private markets. In late 1993, the two largest shopping center companies at the time, DeBartolo and Simon were coming to the market simultaneously. Their advisors informed them that the capital markets could not absorb that much equity; either one of them must back down or prices would suffer severely. DeBartolo agreed to withdraw. In April 1994, most of the properties owned by The Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation were transferred to DeBartolo Realty Corporation, a public REIT, in its initial public offering. The new company was chaired by Edward J. DeBartolo Jr.; DeBartolo Sr. was unwilling to deal personally with the constraints of running a public company. In 1996, DeBartolo Realty Corporation was acquired by Simon Property Group, the public REIT formed by DeBartolo's longtime competitors, Melvin and Herbert Simon.

Philanthropy DeBartolo's contributions to the campus at the University of Notre Dame include a $33 million donation, the largest ever given to both Notre Dame and ever received by a college in Indiana at the time, which funded the Marie P. DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts, the Edward J. DeBartolo Classroom Facility, and the quad surrounding the facility. The facilities have since been renamed the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, DeBartolo Hall, and DeBartolo Quad. There is also a DeBartolo Hall on the campus of Youngstown State University (YSU), in his hometown of Youngstown, where DeBartolo has made many endowments to YSU. The DeBartolo Corporation continues to be based in nearby Boardman, Ohio.

Sporting interests The headquarters of The DeBartolo Corporation in Boardman, Ohio, with the San Francisco 49ers logo on the building, signifying the team's ownership by the DeBartolo-York family. DeBartolo purchased the San Francisco 49ers in 1977, giving the team to his son. DeBartolo Jr. devoted significant resources to the team, became an expert in team management and player relations, and made it the most successful NFL franchise in the 1980s.

The family also owned the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League from February 1977 until selling it to an ownership group led by Howard Baldwin in November 1991. DeBartolo said at a rally after the first win that the occasion was "possibly the happiest moment of my life."

DeBartolo owned the Pittsburgh Spirit soccer team from 1978 to 1986.

DeBartolo owned and developed three thoroughbred racetracks – Thistledown in North Randall, Ohio, Remington Park in Oklahoma City, and Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, Louisiana. The White Sox were eventually sold to an investment group led by Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn three months later on January 29, 1981.

Death DeBartolo died of pneumonia on December 19, 1994, in Youngstown, Ohio, at the age of 85.