Tom Hicks, the Texas Businessman Who Owned Stars, Rangers and Liverpool Teams, Dies at 79

LIVERPOOL, UNITED KINGDOM – APRIL 08: Liverpool Co-Owner Tom Hicks looks on prior to the UEFA Europa League Quarter Final second leg match between Liverpool and Benfica at Anfield on April 8, 2010 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

DALLAS (AP) — Tom Hicks, the Texas businessman and philanthropist who owned two Dallas-area professional sports franchises and an English Premier League soccer team, died Saturday. He was 79. Spokesperson Lisa LeMaster said in statement that Hicks died peacefully in Dallas surrounded by family. Hicks owned the NHL’s Dallas Stars from 1995–2011, winning the Stanley Cup in 1999. He also owned baseball’s Texas Rangers from 1998–2010, a period when they won three American West Division titles and made a World Series appearance soon after the team was sold. In 2007, he acquired a 50% stake in Liverpool. Hicks co-founded Hicks & Haas in 1984 and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst in 1989, helping reshape private equity and investing strategy. He served on the University of Texas’s Board of Regents from 1994 to 1999.

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