Jerry Buss, who bought the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979 and turned them into the N.B.A.’s glamour team, winners of 10 league championships and the cornerstone of his Southern California sports empire, died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 80.
His death was announced by the Lakers. He had been hospitalized with cancer for much of the last 18 months.
A child of the Depression, Mr. Buss obtained a doctorate in physical
chemistry and later prospered in real estate ventures, enabling him to
pursue his love of sports.
He paid $67.5 million to buy the Lakers from Jack Kent Cooke
in a deal that included the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey
League, the Forum sports arena in Los Angeles and Mr. Cooke’s California
ranch.
In January, his Lakers were valued at $1 billion by Forbes magazine,
second in the National Basketball Association to the Knicks’ $1.1
billion valuation.
Mr. Buss spent heavily for marquee lineups headed by Magic Johnson,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Jerry West, the
Lakers’ former star guard, orchestrated their success as the general
manager together with two of professional basketball’s most renowned
coaches, first Pat Riley and then Phil Jackson.
