Al Lerner was best known as the chair of the board of credit-card giant MBNA and the owner of the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League.
15 Facts About Al Lerner
1.
2.
Al Lerner was a past president of the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland Clinic as well as a major benefactor.
3.
Al Lerner's parents owned a small candy store and sandwich shop in Queens, New York.
4.
Al Lerner attended Brooklyn Technical High School and then Columbia College, the liberal arts college at Columbia University, graduating in 1955.
5.
Al Lerner served as a pilot in the US Marines from 1955 to 1957, serving in Quantico, Virginia and Pensacola, Florida.
6.
Al Lerner tried unsuccessfully to sell the bank's most successful unit, credit card issuer MBNA, to raise cash.
7.
Al Lerner was the chairman of Town and Country Trust, which owns and operates more than 15,000 apartment units in the mid-Atlantic region.
8.
Al Lerner introduced Modell to Baltimore financiers of the deal, and he sat behind on the podium at Modell's press conference announcing the team's move.
9.
Al Lerner's initials were stitched on the sleeves of the Browns' jerseys every season until the 2013 NFL season when they were removed from the jerseys under Jimmy Haslam's new ownership of the team.
10.
Al Lerner was proud of being a US Marine and flew a Marine Corps flag atop the stadium during the entire time he owned the Browns.
11.
Al Lerner was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2001 and that May underwent surgery, spending most of his last year in and out of hospitals.
12.
Al Lerner died on October 23,2002, and was buried at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.
13.
Al Lerner's estate donated $10 million toward the construction of the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
14.
In 1999, Al Lerner received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
15.
Al Lerner's award was presented by Awards Council member General Charles C Krulak, the 31st Commandant of the US Marine Corps.