Donald Sterling
Donald T. Sterling is an American businessman who was the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers professional basketball franchise of the National Basketball Association from 1981 to 2014.
- Donald Sterling, born Donald Tokowitz to Jewish immigrants, built a fortune largely by buying down-at-the-heels apartment buildings in Los Angeles.
- Sterling owned the Los Angeles Clippers for 33 years; his wife Shelly sold in 2014 after a tape of his racist remarks to then-mistress surfaced.
- The Chicago-born billionaire bought the Clippers in 1981 for $12.5 million when the team was based in San Diego. It was sold for $2 billion.
- Besides a swath of apartments in L.A.’s Westside and Koreatown, he also owns the Beverly Hills Plaza Hotel.
- Before he purchased his first West Hollywood apartment house, Sterling was a successful trial lawyer.
