Funeral service set for Ronald Ilitch
Services have been scheduled next week for Ronald Ilitch, the son of former Tigers and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch, who was found dead on Friday in a Troy hotel room.
Visitation with family is scheduled for Tuesday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the A.J. Desmond and Sons Funeral Home, 32515 Woodward Ave. between 13 Mile and 14 Mile.
A funeral service is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Clement Orthodox Church, 19600 Ford Rd. in Dearborn. A visitation for relatives and close friends at the church starts at 9 a.m. Rite of Committal will be at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield.
The body of Ilitch, 61, was found at the Detroit Marriott Troy after police received a call around 4 p.m. Friday. Troy police declined further comment, but said the Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office was conducting an autopsy.
“On behalf of my mother Marian Ilitch and our entire family, I want to express our sadness and grief at Ron’s passing,” Christopher Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings, said of his brother in a statement. “We’re devastated about this loss, and we ask for respect of the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”
Ilitch was, at one point, employed with Ilitch Holdings and scouted locations for new Little Caesars restaurants.
In September 2014, Ilitch pleaded guilty to cocaine possession as part of a plea deal, receiving one year of probation and service in an alternate work force program. He avoided the felony charge.
A month earlier, officers from Detroit Police’s 8th Precinct saw a woman get into Ilitch's Corvette in the area of Six Mile and Grand River near a local hotel. Officers stopped the car because of its tinted windows. Ilitch was then taken to the Detroit Detention Center on Mound Road.
In 2006, Ilitch was arraigned in Oakland Circuit Court on two counts of domestic violence-related assault and battery after his live-in girlfriend said he beat her in their Troy home.
Mike Ilitch, who founded the Little Caesars pizza chain, bought the Tigers in 1992 and died on Feb. 10, 2017, at the age of 87.
Ronald Ilitch is survived by sons of Ryan T., Michael Edward, Susan and Ronald, Jr. His mother, Marian Ilitch, and siblings Denise, Michael Jr., Lisa Ilitch Murray, Atanas, Christopher and Carole and two grandchildren, Pierre and Bryce.