Business Mogul Abe Pollin Dies

Abe Pollin, 85, the business mogul whose empire includes the Washington Wizards, Verizon Center and a Ticketmaster fiefdom, died Nov. 24.

Pollin, the NBA’s longest-tenured owner, bought the Baltimore Bullets in 1964, which won the NBA championship in 1976 and was eventually renamed the Wizards.

Former AOL exec Ted Leonsis, who owns 44 percent of Pollin’s Washington Sports & Entertainment, says he will buy Pollin’s assets, including the 20,500-capacity Verizon Center and the Baltimore-Washington franchise of Ticketmaster – an entity that Pollin has always owned separate of the TM currently run by Irving Azoff.

Pollin suffered from progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disorder impairs movement and balance. He had heart bypass surgery in 2005 and broke his pelvis two years later.