Peter Seidler, the owner of the San Diego Padres who spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the still elusive goal of giving the city its first World Series title, died Tuesday in San Diego. He was 63 years old.
His death was confirmed in a statement on Parent’s Tuesday. The cause was not revealed.
Seidler, who had been treated twice for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, said in September that he would not attend games for the rest of the season as he was recovering from a medical procedure in August.
Seidler had no qualms about his ambitions to win a World Series with the Padres, no matter the cost. Under his leadership, the Padres spent heavily on players in hopes of winning a title.
“I like spending money,” Seidler said. The San Diego Union-Tribune last year. “You can’t take it with you.”
The Padres, who debuted in 1969, made history in 2019 when the team signed third baseman Manny Machado to a 10-year contract worth $300 million. At the time, the deal was the largest contract given to a free agent. The following season, in 2020, the Padres made the postseason, ending a 14-year playoff drought. They reached the National Championship Series in 2022.
Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement Tuesday that Seidler “grew up in a baseball family.” Seidler was the grandson of Walter O’Malley, who shocked the baseball world in the late 1950s when he moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles from Brooklyn. Seidler was the nephew of Peter O’Malley, who took over the Dodgers after his father and led the team to World Series titles in 1981 and 1988.
Peter Seidler was born on November 7, 1960, in Alhambra, California, to Terry Seidler and Roland Seidler Jr. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Virginia, where he was a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. Seidler also earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.
After working in the lending arm of Bank of America, Seidler co-founded Seidler Equity Partners, a private equity investment firm, in 1992. He made a fortune with his investment firm, which manages more than $5 billion in assets, according to the Padres.
Seidler’s foray into the sport began in 2012, when he formed an ownership group to purchase the Padres from John Moores. The group included his uncle Peter O’Malley, who left the Dodgers in the late 1990s. Seidler subsequently took over as president of the Padres, after Ron Fowler resigned in 2020.
As president, Seidler took a more aggressive spending approach with the Padres, acquiring pitchers Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove ahead of the 2021 season. The Padres made the playoffs in 2022, advancing to the National League Championship Seriesin which they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies.
At the start of the 2023 season, the Padres had one of the largest payrolls in Major League Baseball, and some, including the commissioner, questioned whether that spending was sustainable.
“I don’t spend too much time, if any, thinking about what other people think.” Seidler said in February. “We think we have a great opportunity to go after that trophy and give San Diego its first parade, and with a lot of seriousness and humility.”
Seidler said The Union-Tribune in July that he planned for ownership of the team to remain in his family after his death.
Seidler is survived by his wife, Sheel, three children, nine siblings and his mother, Terry Seidler.
Petco Park, home of the Padres, opened its doors Tuesday afternoon to allow fans to pay their respects.
