William Hoover Yawkey (August 22, 1875 – March 5, 1919) was an American business executive in the lumber and mining industries.[1] He was the sole owner of the Detroit Tigers of the American League from 1903 through 1908, and majority owner from 1908 to 1919.[2]
Bill Yawkey | |
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Born | Bay City, Michigan, U.S. | August 22, 1875
Died | March 5, 1919 43) Augusta, Georgia, U.S. | (aged
Occupations |
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Family | Tom Yawkey (nephew) |
Biography
Yawkey was the son of wealthy Michigan lumber tycoon William Clyman Yawkey.[3] The elder Yawkey agreed to buy the Tigers from Samuel F. Angus in 1903, but died before the deal closed.[2] Frank Navin, then the Tigers' bookkeeper and vice president, persuaded the younger Yawkey to complete the deal.[4]
Yawkey took little interest in the Tigers, leaving day-to-day control in Navin's hands.[2] In 1908, Yawkey sold almost half of the club's stock to Navin, effectively making Navin a full partner.[2] Yawkey died in Augusta, Georgia, in 1919 from the Spanish flu. He was interred in a family lot in Brattleboro, Vermont.[5][lower-alpha 1] Following Yawkey's death, Navin bought additional stock from the Yawkey estate, raising his stake to 50 percent; he would remain the Tigers' principal owner until his own death in 1935.[2]
Yawkey left his $40 million estate to his nephew and adoptive son, Tom Yawkey,[6] who later bought the Boston Red Sox.
A boathouse that Yawkey had constructed in 1917 in Hazelhurst, Wisconsin, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.[7]
A cousin, Cyrus C. Yawkey, owned a lumber business and was a politician in Wisconsin.[8]
Notes
- Online photos at Find a Grave suggest that he has been re-interred within a Yawkey mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York).
References
External links
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