Gordon Gund is a former owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Jose Sharks. He was born in 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended Harvard University, where he played basketball. After graduating, he worked in finance before becoming involved in sports ownership.
Gund's first foray into sports ownership came in 1983, when he and his brother George purchased the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team struggled in the early years of their ownership, but they eventually built a competitive team led by stars like Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, and Larry Nance. In 1992, the Cavaliers made it to the NBA Finals, but they lost to the Chicago Bulls in six games.
In 1995, Gund sold the Cavaliers to billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert. However, Gund remained involved in sports ownership, as he and his brother purchased the San Jose Sharks of the NHL in 2002. The Sharks had been struggling on the ice, but under the Gunds' ownership, they became a perennial playoff team. In 2013, the Gunds sold the Sharks to a group led by venture capitalist Hasso Plattner.
Gund's impact on the sports world extends beyond his ownership of the Cavaliers and Sharks. He has also been a major advocate for people with visual impairments, as he himself is blind. In 1979, Gund founded the Foundation Fighting Blindness, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research into treatments and cures for retinal diseases. The organization has raised over $750 million to date and has helped to fund numerous breakthroughs in the field of vision research.
In addition to his work with the Foundation Fighting Blindness, Gund has also been involved in numerous other philanthropic endeavors. He has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including the Cleveland Clinic and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He has also been a major donor to Harvard University, where he established the Gund Hall for the Graduate School of Design.
Overall, Gordon Gund's basketball career was defined by his ownership of the Cleveland Cavaliers and his later ownership of the San Jose Sharks. However, his impact on the sports world extends far beyond his ownership of these teams. Through his work with the Foundation Fighting Blindness and other philanthropic endeavors, Gund has made a lasting impact on the lives of countless people.
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