It is an empire constructed piece by piece, however reaching expansively throughout the Baltimore space and past — via actual property that features a downtown landmark and a famend horse farm, to an aggressive legislation agency that gained billions of {dollars} for staff harmed by asbestos and people who smoke sickened by tobacco, and naturally, wrapping within the Orioles, whose glories and struggles outline their proud and scrappy hometown.
But now, within the twilight of his life, Peter G. Angelos’ huge portfolio of property may very well be damaged up amid a household feud over who will management them.
According to a not too long ago filed lawsuit, his spouse desires to promote the group and his older son desires to “dissolve and dismantle” his legislation agency, the signature holdings that propelled the son of a Highlandtown tavern proprietor into one essentially the most distinguished and highly effective figures within the state.
The go well with, filed June 9 by his youthful son, Louis F. Angelos, 52, particulars a household feud that allegedly has been brewing because the well being of the household patriarch started declining and he might not handle his companies. Peter Angelos’ 93rd birthday is on the Fourth of July.
Louis Angelos sued in Baltimore County Circuit Court, claiming his brother John P. Angelos, 54, has sought to grab management of their father’s property, intimidating and complicated their mom, Georgia Kousouris Angelos, into acquiescence. The 80-year-old matriarch issued an announcement in response to the go well with, nevertheless, saying she alone has the authority to handle the household property and absolutely helps John.
Whether any asset is bought stays to be seen and, certainly, household holdings typically don’t stay intact via the generations for any variety of causes. Disputes such because the one splitting the Angelos household are so acquainted, they’ve impressed all the things from Shakespeare’s “King Lear” to HBO’s “Succession.”
The Angelos empire has had however one emperor, observers say, making it exhausting to ascertain the passing down of the crown.
“With Peter’s personality, being such a dominant leader, the Angelos law firm was just him. He ran the Orioles the same way,” stated Aris Melissaratos, a former Maryland secretary of enterprise and financial improvement who now’s vice chairman for management improvement for St. John Properties.
“He was kind of dominant everywhere, and dominant over his two sons,” he stated. “For decisions, it was always, ‘You have to see Mr. Angelos.’”
The Law Offices of Peter Angelos, because the much-advertised agency is named, employed a fluctuating secure of attorneys over time — however none had been made companions, though it’s presently managed by Louis Angelos. And whereas Peter Angelos organized a gaggle of consumers to buy the Orioles in 1993, together with the late novelist Tom Clancy and tennis-star-turned-broadcaster Pam Shriver, Angelos was the main investor and managing accomplice.
As his well being faltered, he granted energy of lawyer to his spouse “to act in my place in all matters,” in accordance with a doc signed Oct. 31, 2017, and which was included within the submitting of Louis Angelos’ lawsuit.
Should she not be capable to act in that capability, the doc went on to say, he designated his sons “acting jointly or separately” to interchange her as his “attorney-in-fact.” Angelos additionally created a belief for his holdings, and on Aug. 9, 2019, he discontinued his position as its trustee whereas his spouse and two sons took over as co-trustees.
In October 2020, Georgia Angelos positioned her husband’s curiosity within the Orioles into his belief, in accordance with the lawsuit.
A authorized and downtown powerhouse
Peter Angelos final went to his legislation workplace, within the gleaming One Charles Center downtown, in February 2018. Angelos purchased the constructing, designed by modernist big Ludwig Mies van der Rowe, in 1996 for $6 million.
The legislation agency focuses on private harm circumstances, most notably sicknesses and deaths by metal and shipyard staff from inhaling asbestos. The agency additionally dealt with the state’s litigation towards the tobacco trade to get better prices associated to caring for people who smoke.
Attorneys on the town say the legislation agency is smaller than through the peak of the asbestos litigation and, in accordance with Louis Angelos’ go well with, John Angelos thought-about it unsustainable and thought it wanted to be dissolved or spun off. Louis Angelos refused, the go well with stated, noting their father thought-about his agency his “most significant achievement” and his position with the Orioles “strictly secondary.”
From a working-class background — his mother and father immigrated from Greece, and he went to legislation faculty at evening — he rose in standing and wealth. He served as a City Council member and ran unsuccessfully for mayor, and have become a significant philanthropic and Democratic political donor. He has given tens of millions to his alma mater, the University of Baltimore Law School, the place a constructing bears the names of his mother and father, John and Frances Angelos.
Angelos has owned numerous downtown buildings over time, and sought to guard the office-leasing market from transferring to different components of city. He sued to halt improvement plans exterior the central enterprise district, such because the westside Superblock undertaking and the State Center revamp.
Louis Angelos’ lawsuit accuses his brother of transferring what he estimates as greater than $90 million of their father’s actual property holdings into an LLC owned by a belief that John Angelos largely controls.
The listing contains metropolis and county properties, together with 925 Eastern Ave. in Little Italy, which housed Boccaccio Restaurant till shortly after its proprietor’s demise in 2008. Peter Angelos had been an everyday, internet hosting everybody from Os pitching nice Jim Palmer, who stated the group proprietor was attempting to woo him as supervisor, to then-Gov. Martin O’Malley, in a reported try to heat a cold relationship with the Democrat.
Angelos beforehand purchased the legendary Maison Marconi on West Saratoga Street, saying he would relocate the restaurant to one in every of his Charles Street properties. Instead, he closed it 5 years later and bought the constructing in 2019.
Angelos’ enterprise pursuits are likely to overlap. He owned thoroughbred horses earlier than the Orioles, racing them underneath the identify Marathon Farm. In 1998, he purchased a 237-acre horse farm in Baltimore County for $2.6 million. He has named horses after then-Os supervisor Buck Showalter and proper fielder Nick Markakis.
The worth of Peter Angelos’ fortune is unclear, though Melissaratos estimates it’s in extra of $2 billion. The Orioles are valued by Forbes at $1.375 billion.
The subsequent era
For many a household, consultants say, the transition from founder to the following era might be fraught.
“You’re not just dealing with business issues. You’re dealing with family issues, as well,” stated Maurice Offit, a Baltimore-based lawyer who focuses on property planning, however famous he has no unbiased data of the Angelos household’s scenario. “Many times it’s hard.”
And when the crown jewel of the household enterprise is especially high-profile, with a lot of the city invested in its each transfer, the challenges are that a lot better, Melissaratos stated.
“The Os and Baltimore are synonymous,” he stated.
“Succession planning is always difficult to achieve, especially in a family with such a visible asset like the Orioles,” Melissaratos stated.
John A. Pica Jr., a former Democratic state legislator, agreed. Pica, who beforehand labored for the Angelos legislation agency and now’s a lobbyist, stated he hopes the household settles its variations.
“Mr. Angelos built an empire through hard work. He kept the Orioles in Baltimore,” he stated. “It’s very sad to see a battle like this going on, but I’m sure it will all work out.”
In his lawsuit, Louis Angelos stated his father introduced each sons into the Orioles operations beginning round 1995, two years after he and different buyers purchased the group for $173 million, then essentially the most ever paid for a sports activities group.
Frank Wren, the Orioles basic supervisor for a single 12 months, 1999, stated the brothers had been feeling their manner in a still-unfamiliar area for them, and it was not at all times clear what their position was.
“Both of the kids were new to the business, trying to figure out how to lead,” he stated. “They were figuring out what was their place, where they really fit in, ‘What will Dad let us do?’ ‘Will the role have meat to it — or is it just a title and Dad’s running everything?’”
Wren stated Louis Angelos “had a decent feel for the game” and “was more interested in baseball stuff” than his brother on the time.
Peter Angelos fired Wren on the finish of the season, partly as a result of he refused to carry a airplane for a West Coast highway journey for star Cal Ripken Jr., who was caught in site visitors.
“Peter’s very demanding. I don’t think saying that takes anyone by surprise,” Wren stated. “He has a view of what should be done, and how.”
The lawsuit stated the brothers initially labored collectively collaboratively, however a “rift” developed between John Angelos and his father over such issues as the place the group ought to find its spring coaching facility. The acrimony led to John Angelos allegedly strolling away from the Orioles for lengthy durations of time, throughout which Louis Angelos’ position on the group grew, the lawsuit stated.
John Angelos returned to the group in 2017 at his father’s request, in accordance with the lawsuit, and commenced attempting to grab management, unilaterally eliminating these loyal to Peter Angelos and putting in his personal individuals. He now holds the title of chairman and CEO of the group.
Louis Angelos stated in his go well with that his brother labored to consolidate his management over the group and will promote it or transfer it to Tennessee, the place he lives in Nashville. John Angelos has denied he would transfer the group, and within the lawsuit, he’s accused of stalling and thwarting his mom’s want for a sale.
The turmoil has many followers watching not simply what’s taking place on the sector, the place a yearslong rebuilding course of appears to be bearing some fruit in thrilling younger gamers, however off it as nicely.
“It’s unfortunate this rift comes as the team is about to turn around,” Melissaratos stated.
“It’s got to be resolved peacefully, not by having family laundry aired in public,” he stated. “Someone needs to come in and calm things down. I would offer to do it.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com