Peter Angelos, longtime owner of Baltimore Orioles, dead at 94

BALTIMORE — Peter Angelos, the longtime owner of the Baltimore Orioles and one of the nation’s most successful class-action attorneys, died on Saturday, the team announced. He was 94.

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The team issued a statement Saturday, noting that Angelos, who bought the franchise in 1993 for $173 million, had “passed away quietly.” The team did not give a location or cause of death, The Baltimore Sun reported.

“Mr. Angelos had been ill for several years, and the family thanks the doctors, nurses, and caregivers who brought comfort to him in his final years,” the statement said. “It was Mr. Angelos’ wish to have a private burial, and the family asks for understanding as they honor that request. Donations may be sent to charity in lieu of flowers.”

Angelos’ death came as his family prepared to sell the Orioles to private equity billionaire David Rubestein, The Sun reported. The transaction is awaiting final approval by MLB owners, according to ESPN. Angelos’ son, John, has been the team’s chair and managing partner since 2020, the sports news outlet reported.

Angelos had a successful law practice in Baltimore, where he specialized in injury and product liability cases, The Washington Post reported. He would win more than $1 billion from companies for workers injured by exposure to asbestos, according to The Sun. Angelos’ share was more than $300 million, the Post reported.

As the managing partner of a group of investors who bought the Orioles in 1993, Angelos fought a long battle to keep major league baseball out of Washington, D.C., or Northern Virginia, the Post reported. He lost the battle when MLB moved the Montreal Expos franchise to the nation’s capital, where they were renamed the Nationals.

However, Angelos still maintained some control over the territory because Nationals games were broadcast on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, which was run by him and the Orioles, according to the newspaper. That led to many years of litigation.

Angelos spent $40 million to gain a controlling interest in the Orioles, partnering with novelist Tom Clancy, filmmaker Barry Levinson and tennis star Pam Shriver, the Post reported.

He owned the franchise during one of its bleaker eras, as the Orioles had 14 consecutive losing seasons, according to The Sun. But the team returned to the playoffs in 2012 and won the American League East title in 2014 for the first time in 17 years, the newspaper reported.

“Though there are those who will lean toward some negatives of his legacy, there are significant accomplishments to support a positive legacy,” longtime Baltimore sports agent Ron Shapiro told The Sun in an interview before Angelos’ death.

“There’s no one you’d rather have on your side,” longtime friend Alan Rifkin, the primary outside counsel to the Orioles said before Angelos died. “He put ordinary people in the asbestos and tobacco cases on his shoulders and lifted them up, and that’s who he was.”

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