Business & brands
Marian Ilitch
born 1933 · businesswoman, co-founder of Little Caesars
Dearborn-raised daughter of Macedonian immigrants who co-founded Little Caesars with her husband Mike and became owner of Detroit's MotorCity Casino.
- Born
Dearborn, Michigan
age 93- Birth name
- Marian Bayoff
- Detroit years
- 1933–
- Field
- Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Marian Bayoff was born in 1933 and grew up in Dearborn, the daughter of Macedonian immigrants from the village of Bouf, today Akritas in northern Greece. In 1959 she and her husband Mike Ilitch opened the first Little Caesars in Garden City, and she ran much of the business side as it grew into one of the world's largest pizza chains. Together they bought the Detroit Red Wings in 1982 and the Detroit Tigers in 1992, joined a public-private partnership to build Comerica Park, and restored the Fox Theatre as the base of Ilitch Holdings. One of the original investors in MotorCity Casino, she bought out the other stakeholders in 2005 and became its sole owner, since Michigan law barred the family company from owning a Detroit casino directly. After Mike Ilitch's death in 2017 she remained a central figure of the family business. The Detroit chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners named her one of Michigan's top 25 women business owners in 1994.
Highlights
- Co-founded Little Caesars in 1959
- Co-owner of the Red Wings (from 1982) and Tigers (from 1992)
- Sole owner of MotorCity Casino from 2005
- Named one of Michigan's top 25 women business owners, 1994
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Related place · 1999–
MotorCity Casino Hotel
Detroit casino resort in which she was an original investor and which she has owned outright since 2005.
Related place · 1987–
Fox Theatre
The restored movie palace that became the headquarters of the Ilitch family businesses.