Topic: Jeffrey Loria

Jeffrey H. Loria is an art dealer and is owner of the Florida Marlins. Born November 20, 1940 and raised in Manhattan, Loria took an early interest in baseball, attending his first New York Yankees game in the late 1940s. Loria attended New York City's Stuyvesant High School, and Yale University, where he initially took pre-med courses. With a requirement to take a history class, Loria chose art history.

After college, he worked in a newly-established art-buying program for Sears, launched with the help of actor Vincent Price. In 1965, at the age of 24, he opened his private art dealing business, Jeffrey H. Loria & Co., on Manhattan's Upper East Side and wrote a book, Collecting Original Art. He specializes in 20th century masters. His collection includes works by Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore. Loria graduated from Columbia Business School in 1968 and published his second book, What's It All About Charlie Brown?, a look at life through the Peanuts comic strip (co-written with Pat K. Lynch).

In 1989, Loria purchased the Oklahoma City 89ers, then a Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. The team won the American Association championship in 1992. Loria sold the team in 1993 and began looking to buy a Major League team. Loria lost out to Peter Angelos in his bid to purchase the Baltimore Orioles in 1994. On December 9, 1999, he bought a 35 percent stake in the Montreal Expos for $75 million CAD (approximately $50 million USD) and became the managing general partner. When a series of cash calls went unanswered, Loria ended up with 92.5 percent of the team. He headed an ownership group that included the city of Montreal and Stephen Bronfman, son of founding owner Charles Bronfman.