Ted Lerner, the principal owner of the Washington Nationals, died Sunday, according to a news release from the team. He was 97.
A Nationals spokesperson said Lerner died of complications from pneumonia at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
He is survived by his wife of 71 years, Annette Morris Lerner; three children, nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Founding Managing Principal Owner Theodore N. Lerner,” the team said in a statement. “The crowning achievement of his family business was bringing baseball back to the city he loved — and with it, bringing a championship home for the first time since 1924. He cherished the franchise and what it brought to his beloved hometown.”
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Founding Managing Principal Owner, Theodore N. Lerner. pic.twitter.com/l8rKD6KE8E
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) February 13, 2023
Lerner, a longtime real estate mogul in the D.C. region, purchased the former Montreal Expos from Major League Baseball for $450 million, and ownership of the team was transferred in 2006. The team held its inaugural season the year before, bringing baseball back to D.C. after a three-decade absence.
After early struggles on the field, the Nationals made the playoffs five times between 2012 and 2019 — and eventually won the World Series in 2019. Lerner handed over the reins as managing principal owner to his son, Mark Lerner, in 2018.
Ted Lerner was born in D.C. in 1925, graduated from The George Washington University with a law degree and founded the real estate company Lerner Enterprises by 1952, which went on to become the one of the largest private real-estate development companies in the area.
Long before buying a team, Lerner’s connection with baseball in D.C. was far humbler: He worked as an usher in D.C.’s old Griffith Stadium, where the American League’s Washington Senators played from 1911 to 1960.
Ted Lerner is the reason baseball came back to DC after 33 years.
Thank you, Ted.
Rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/FCgEchEYmO
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) February 13, 2023
In the development world around the DMV, Lerner is being remembered as a visionary. Among his notable projects is turning farmland in what was then Tysons Corner into a shopping destination, and bringing new life to areas in the Navy Yard along the Anacostia River in D.C.
“He was one of the most incredible developers that this region’s ever seen,” said Jack McDougle president and CEO at Greater Washington Board of Trade.
McDougle said the projects that really stick out to him are the development of Tysons, The Dulles Town Center in Virginia and the early years of the White Flint Mall in Montgomery County, Maryland. Then, of course, there was the development around the Navy Yard in D.C.
“Everything that has been accomplished around the Navy Yard area, and after he bought the Nationals, that’s really a legacy that will be unequaled,” McDougle said.
Jamie Weinbaum is the current Chair of Governance and former District Council Chair of ULI Washington, the local district council of the Urban Land Institute. The organization honored Lerner with a lifetime achievement award in 2015. He said Lerner’s legacy will be that he is among a handful of people who dramatically shaped this region for true Washingtonians who live, work and play here.
“He was one of those people who made it possible for the region to grow beyond just being … a government town,” Weinbaum said.
Michael Caplin, a founding director of the Tyson’s Partnership, said Lerner’s work in Tysons changed the trajectory of the Washington Metropolitan Region.
“All of the business that later came to Tysons drove on roads that he built and built on visions that he first conceived,” Caplin said. “You can’t overstate how remarkable his role was.”
Caplin said it was Lerner’s “fierce integrity” which gave him an advantage as a developer.
“He was readily apparent as a man of his word, who would drive a hard bargain, and then stick to it and see that had happened,” Caplin said.
McDougle said what also set him apart was how he worked.
“He was the quiet professional … He was one of the most incredible developers that this region’s ever seen,” said McDougle.
The Lerner family is the majority owner of the Washington Nationals franchise, controlling over 90% of the shares. The family is also a partner in Monumental Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Washington Capitals hockey team, the Washington Wizards basketball team, the Washington Mystics basketball team and Valor, the Arena Football League team, as well as the Capital One Arena in Penn Quarter.
Ted Leonsis, CEO of Monumental Sports, called Lerner a business icon and “giant,” and said he “built this city.”
RIP Ted Lerner. Built this city, built Tysons Corner. The Lerner name is impeccable everywhere. He won a World Series for the fans of the @Nationals. Family First. Husband, father, grandfather, great-grand father, business icon and GIANT. Will never be another like Mr. Ted Lerner https://t.co/z0T1ClVvvO
— Ted Leonsis (@TedLeonsis) February 13, 2023
When the Nationals came to D.C. in 2005, it had been 33 years since the nation’s capital had a major league baseball team after the departure of the Washington Senators in the early 1970s.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in a statement called Lerner “an extraordinary American success story” — a former stadium usher who brought baseball back to prominence in the nation’s capital.
“I have great appreciation for Ted’s impact on his hometown and the game he loved,” Manfred said. “The Nationals have always remained loyal to Ted’s vision of unity, philanthropy and civic pride in Washington.”
Last year, the Lerners began exploring the possibility of selling the team, which is worth $2 billion, according to Forbes, which estimates the family’s net worth as $6.6 billion thanks to the Nationals and Lerner Enterprises.
The Associated Press and WTOP’s George Wallace and Mike Murillo contributed to this report.
