Davidson built team into a three-time NBA champion
Chris McCosky / The Detroit News
Pistons owner William Davidson died Friday night at his home, Pistons spokesman Matt Dobek said. He was 86.
His health had been failing the past couple of years and he was confined to a wheelchair. His normally regular visits to The Palace for Pistons games were very infrequent. He attended only two home games this season.
Cause of death wasn't released.
"There is a huge hole in our hearts tonight," said Palace Sports and Entertainment President Tom Wilson in an interview on WWJ-950. "This really is somebody that you thought would go on forever. He seemed to have nine lives, and every one of them was jovial and optimistic and positive. He was a forward-looking person. He was a guy who never dwelled on mistakes, he had so much positive energy.
He was the most eternal optimist ever.
"It's an overwhelming presence we've lost."
Pistons Coach Michael Curry reacted to the news Friday night, not long after leading his team to a victory over the Toronto Raptors.
"We are all deeply saddened by the news of Mr. D's passing," he said. "He's been a great owner who genuinely cared for players, coaches and employees. He will not only be remembered as a great owner but also as a person who made a difference in many people's lives. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. D and the entire Davidson family."
Davidson bought the Pistons on July 29, 1974, for $6 million, ignoring the advice of his closest advisers. He took over the team from Fred Zollner, who hadn't made a profit in the 17 years he'd been in Detroit.
Today, the Pistons are one of the most successful franchises in professional sports, worth more than $430 million according to recent statistics compiled by Forbes.
Davidson said repeatedly he would never sell the Pistons and the franchise would remain in his family after he passed.
As an owner, Davidson, along with Commissioner David Stern, helped bring the NBA into a more modern and lucrative era. He was the first owner to purchase an airplane for his team. He was the first to finance his own arena -- The Palace, which remains a state-of-the-art facility. He was the first to encourage Stern to consider taking a more global approach to marketing the league.
"He's always been there in every collective bargaining agreement, he's always been there in expansion, he was chairman of the board (of governors)," Stern said in an interview with pistons.com last year. "He served with respect to really bringing the NBA into the modern age. He's been an adviser on international issues. He always has a good perspective on officiating and basketball, as well.
"There has been no major issue we have had in the last 25 years, even more, that he hasn't been at the center of. League structure to business structure to collective bargaining to expansion to marketing to franchise relocation and owner admission, he's been there for all of it and he's just been great."
In 2004, all three of the teams he owned -- the Pistons, Shock and the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning -- won championships.
Davidson was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September.
A 1957 graduate of the University of Michigan, Davidson built his wealth through Guardian Industries. He used an innovative and aggressive global plan to build that company, ideas he shared with Stern.
Forbes reported in 2008 that Davidson's net worth was $4.5 billion, ranked first in the state.
Guardian, headquartered in Auburn Hills, is one of the world's largest producers of float glass and fabricated glass products, used in the automotive industry.
In presenting Davidson to the hall of fame in September, Pistons President Joe Dumars said, "It was just a great, great, great comfort for me to know I had someone who was the owner of the Pistons who just epitomized everything you wanted in a great owner, incredible character, honest, straightforward. When someone is a trailblazer, a risk-taker, an innovator, that person should be recognized. If any person deserves to be in there, it's this guy right here. It's Bill Davidson."
Besides his success in business and with the Pistons, he was a quiet but generous philanthropist.
He donated $30 million to the University of Michigan -- which founded the William Davidson Institute for the business school -- and $20 million to the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
"He was a normal guy who happened to be fabulously wealthy," Wilson said. "It was incredible presence he had; we'll not see anybody like him again, I fear."
The Ira Kaufman Chapel Funeral Home says services are scheduled for Tuesday at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield.
