Peter Seidler, owner of the San Diego Padres and the man responsible for making the team a national phenomenon through extravagant spending and other risky maneuvers, passed away on Tuesday.
Peter Seidler Cause Of Death
The Padres announced on Tuesday that their owner, Peter Seidler, had passed away after spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to win San Diego its first World Series title in franchise history. He was 63. The reason for the death was never given. Seidler was a third-generation O’Malley and a two-time cancer survivor.
The O’Malley family owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. In mid-September, the club announced that Seidler would miss the balance of the season due to a medical procedure. The Seidler family has asked that no details about his death be made public. Seidler, who has been battling a mystery disease, released a statement on September 18 saying he had undergone medical treatment and would miss the rest of the Padres’ 2023 season.
With profound sadness, the Padres announce that their Chairman and Owner Peter Seidler passed away today in San Diego. He will be dearly missed.
Please see the attached press release for further detail: https://t.co/aCzmP690G9 pic.twitter.com/hWOxwRbLFq
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) November 14, 2023
“The Padres organization mourns the passing of our beloved Chairman and owner, Peter Seidler,” said Padres CEO Erik Graupner in a statement.
“Today, our love and prayers encircle Peter’s family as they grieve the loss of an extraordinary husband, father, son, brother, uncle, and friend. Peter was a kind and generous man who was devoted to his wife, children, and extended family. He also consistently exhibited heartfelt compassion for others, especially those less fortunate.
“His impact on the city of San Diego and the baseball world will be felt for generations. His generous spirit is now firmly embedded in the fabric of the Padres. Although he was our Chairman and owner, Peter was at his core a Padres fan. He will be dearly missed.”
Seidler was the grandson of Walter O’Malley, the original owner of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, and the nephew of Peter O’Malley, the current owner of the Dodgers and the man responsible for their 1981 and 1988 World Series victories. After making his wealth in the private equity industry, baseball fanatic and uncle-namesake Seidler co-led a group that bought the Padres from John Moores in 2012.
The Padres, with Seidler as its primary investor and eventually their chairman, moved from being one of baseball’s perennial also-rans in a small- to medium-sized television market to a powerhouse of the industry. Eric Hosmer, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Joe Musgrove, Xander Bogaerts, and Yu Darvish were all signed for nine figures, and Seidler will be remembered as the owner who approved and, in some cases, pushed for these contracts.
The Padres were previously known as one of the most budget-conscious teams in baseball, but these investments propelled them to the third-highest payroll to start the 2023 season. Seidler also approved the hiring of general manager A.J. Preller in 2014 and twice extended Preller’s contract, allowing him to aggressively and frequently alter the Padres’ squad.
Seidler succeeded Fowler as control owner after San Diego ended a 14-year postseason drought during the 2020 season cut short by a pandemic. The Padres made their first trip to the NLCS in 24 years in 2022. Despite the sadness of the prior season, a record-setting 3.2 million fans showed up to watch the team play at Petco Park.
“I am deeply saddened by the news of Peter’s passing,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “Peter grew up in a baseball family, and his love of the game was evident throughout his life. He was passionate about owning the Padres and bringing the fans of San Diego a team in which they could always take pride. Peter made sure the Padres were part of community solutions in San Diego, particularly with the homeless community. He was an enthusiastic supporter of using the Padres and Major League Baseball to bring people together and help others.”
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Peter Seidler Early Life
Peter Seidler, who was born on November 7th, 1960, to parents Roland and Terry, co-founded Seidler Equity Partners in 1992. Years later, he explained that it was his business experience that led him to explore purchasing the Padres in the first place back in 2011.
However, if Seidler hadn’t been receiving cancer treatment that year, the Type 1 diabetic and two-time non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor might not have given that option any thought. What started as a boredom-fueled exploration quickly developed into a serious interest. Soon after owning the Padres, Seidler moved his young family to San Diego and began ingraining himself in the town.
In 2017, Seidler convened the “Tuesday Group,” a coalition of corporate and civic leaders who gather weekly to discuss homelessness in San Diego. Much of his other philanthropy has been directed toward health and medical causes; for instance, the Padres’ “Pedal the Cause” has raised over $18 million for cancer research under Seidler’s ownership tenure.
Known for his unrelenting cheerfulness and regular presence around the Padres — at home and on the road — Seidler showed a passion for baseball throughout his pursuits. Before his August surgery, he had made it clear that he wanted his family to keep the team’s ownership for the foreseeable future.
“You go through something brutal, and sooner or later, all of us do, whether it’s directly or through a family member or a good friend. You can’t avoid that in life,” Seidler said in a 2021 interview. “But there are silver linings that come, and in my case, I’m thankful for the silver linings that did come with the cancer treatment (in 2011).
“And separate to me, professional sports, it’s all about winning. And the long, long-term value of having a championship, or several, brings to a city to a city or a county or an area, it’s unique and really unforgettable.”
Sheel, their three small children, their mother, Terry, and nine of Seidler’s siblings all predeceased him. Tom Seidler, one of Seidler’s younger brothers, is the senior vice president of community and military relations for the Padres and a minority owner of the organization.
