Marian Ilitch

About

Marian Bayoff Ilitch (born January 7, 1933) is an American billionaire businesswoman, and the co-founder of Little Caesars Pizza with her late husband, Mike Ilitch. As of March 2018, Ilitch was one of the world’s seven richest women, according to Bloomberg.

She was born in 1933 and raised in Dearborn, Michigan, the daughter of Macedonian immigrants from the village of Bouf (modern day Akritas, Florina, Greece).
She met her future husband Mike Ilitch, also a child of Macedonian immigrants, in 1954 when the two went on a blind date arranged by his father. A year later, they married. The couple has seven children together.

The Ilitches founded Little Caesars Pizza in 1959, which they expanded as a franchise. They have since expanded their interests to include restaurants, entertainment, sports and gaming.

One of the original investors in Detroit’s MotorCity Casino, Ilitch realized an opportunity to purchase total interest in the casino resort complex from various minor stakeholders and Mandalay Resort Group in 2005. Marian solely paid $600 million to buy MotorCity Casino from the other investors and for subsequent…