Michael "Mike" Ilitch (born 1929) began the Little Caesars Pizza empire in 1959 with one store in Garden City, Michigan. His business expanded to about 4000 stores by 1999. Ilitch invested the fortune he made in his hometown of Detroit. He bought several major professional sports teams, including the Detroit Red Wings (professional hockey) and the Detroit Tigers (professional baseball), as well as other local enterprises in an effort to revitalize the city.

Ilitch was born on July 20, 1929, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Macedonian immigrants. Ilitch's father, Sotir, worked in the automobile industry as a tool-and-die maker for the Chrysler Corp. After graduation from Cooley High School, the Detroit Tigers professional baseball team offered Ilitch a $5000 bonus to sign. Ilitch requested double that amount, which the Tigers refused to pay. Instead Ilitch spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, from 1948 until 1952, where he played baseball on base. When his...