RIP Mike Ilitch

LGRW

Thank you, Mr. I., for everything you've ever done for our city and our beloved Tigers and Wings.

Just seconds after winning his first Cup, Ilitch made it point to offer condolences to Don Cherry on the death of his wife.

RIP. James Dolan next please

Made such a huge difference in Detroit.
Big loss.

Man brought me a lot of joy in my life through sports,. Def one man that made a difference in people's lives

On the radio they just mentioned how much he did for hockey internationally . I thought about that  and thats right. He helped to get the players from the Soviet Bloc over here .  Imagine all the greats we might have not got to see play in the NHL . No Datsyuk no Fedorov . No Teemu Selanne no Jagr .

I believe it all started with the Wings helping Petr Klima defect .  Illitch bankrolled it and the rest is history .

Genuine salt of the earth family. Detroit should be grateful for their passion.

A true titan of the city of Detroit.

Thanks for never calling the cops on me in high school.

RIP Mr. I

Thank you for the four Cups. It is a shame you won't see the new arena open.

Mike would buy the Lions from the Ford's. RIP Mike!

Every Friday when I was a kid. One of those great memories from childhood- first thing I thought of when I heard the news. RIP

Henry Ford is the only other guy at that level of doing great things for the Detroit community. I cannot emphasize enough how significant this man was in so many ways. The thing that saddens me the most about this is despite his tremendous efforts and relentless spending, he was never able to complete the last thing he seemed to want out of his career: A Tigers World Series. He had four Stanley Cups, he had so much success at Little Caesars and at Olympia Entertainment. He just wanted to see the Tigers win the World Series so badly. From a Cubs fan who has a clear second-team love for the Tigers, I hope that the Tigers can do what I saw the Cubs do in November when the time comes. And I hope the first person that comes to mind when it happens is Mike Ilitch. We will miss Mr. I and we will always love him, and most importantly we hope that his driving Detroit spirit will live on in the Tigers, Red Wings, and the Detroit community.

Although I'm a mostly indifferent Wings fan and was never a baseball or a Little Caesar's fan, I was always a fan of Mike Ilitch and the way he conducted himself.  He's in the top 3-5 of greatest sports owners of all time at a bare minimum and the world would be a better place if we had more people like him.

Turns out that in addition to the many other things he did for Detroit, he at one point paid Rosa Park's rent when she was in financial trouble.

right out in front of Comerica Park, and the new Hockey arena (forgive my lack of memory about name of the arena) RIP Mr Illitch you are the best thing to happen to Detroit since Mowtown made Detroit their home. Yin and Yang the Illitch family and the Ford family, IMHO.