Bob Lurie
| Robert Alfred Lurie | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1929 (age 87–88) |
| Nationality | United States |
| Other names | Bob Lurie |
| Occupation | real estate developer |
| Known for | owner of the San Francisco Giants |
| Parent(s) | Louis Lurie |
Robert Alfred Lurie (born 1929) is a real estate magnate, philanthropist, and former owner of the San Francisco Giants franchise of Major League Baseball from March 2, 1976 until January 12, 1993.
Lurie was born to a Jewish family in San Francisco. In 1972, he took over the real estate company founded in 1922 by his father, Louis Lurie, whose name is synonymous with San Francisco real estate development during the middle part of the 20th century. The company built a number of properties along Montgomery Street over the years, including a building Bank of America bought and tore down for its world headquarters at 555 California St., and it still owns many of them. Other notable local properties owned by Lurie are the Mark Hopkins Hotel and the Curran Theatre.
Lurie's real estate company has also upgraded some older properties in San Francisco. For example, Lurie invested $20 million in 901 Market St. and brought in retailers Copeland's Sports and Marshalls, transforming the 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2) mid-Market Street eyesore into a winner.
In 1975, Giants owner Horace Stoneham agreed in principle to sell the team to a group headed by the Labatt Brewing Company, which intended to move the team to Toronto. Mayor George Moscone won an injunction to stop the sale, and then persuaded Lurie, a Giants minority owner and board member, to put together a group that would buy the team and keep it in San Francisco. In February 1976, Lurie announced he was putting together a bid to buy the Giants for $8 million. Although Toronto was awarded its own expansion team, the Blue Jays, in 1977, it would not be the last time that San Francisco's baseball fans would fear the possibility of losing their team.
The 1970s was a generally disappointing decade for the Giants and the trend continued throughout Lurie’s ownership. In 1985, a year which saw the Giants lose 100 games (the most in franchise history), Lurie responded by hiring Al Rosen as general manager. Under Rosen's tenure, the Giants promoted promising rookies such as Will Clark and Robby Thompson, and made canny trades to acquire such players as Kevin Mitchell, Dave Dravecky, Candy Maldonado, and Rick Reuschel. The Giants would not have a better influx of young position players since that period until the mid-2000s.
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