William Davidson

William Morse Davidson, J. D. ( Born December 5, 1922 in Detroit, Michigan, † 13 March 2009) was an American billionaire and philanthropist as well as supporters in the sports sector.

Life and work

William Davidson studied at the University of Michigan. In 1949 he completed his studies in law at Wayne State University, where he also received his doctorate.

Davidson was president and CEO of the American glass manufacturer Guardian Industries since 1974 and team owner of the Detroit Pistons.

William Davidson was Honorary Consul of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in the U.S. state of Michigan. In Europe, Luxembourg 1981 he had built his first Guardian plant outside the United States. He was honored with the award of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit and Commander of the Order of the Oak Crown. In 2004 he was awarded the Luxembourg American Business Award.

He was a noted patron of the arts and is among other namesake of the Jewish Theological Seminary 's graduate school of education in Detroit and the Davidson Institute of Science Education at the Weizmann Institute in Israel and founder of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

In the " list of the 400 richest Americans ," Forbes Magazine, he was led to number 62; his fortune was estimated at 5.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Supporters of sports, teams

He was also Chairman of the WNBA Detroit Shock team, with whom he already reached the Finals, and he owned the NHL team Tampa Bay Lightning. His Detroit Pistons won in 1989, 1990 and 2004 NBA Finals, Detroit Shock won the 2003 and 2006 WNBA Championships. Tampa Bay won, the only team ever, the Stanley Cup and NHL championships. 2004 Davidson became the first team owner in the sport history after his teams were champions in their respective sport and league in the same year.

Davidson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.