1. Kim S Pegula is a South Korean-born American former businesswoman and the wife of American multibillionaire Terry Pegula.
23 Facts About Kim Pegula
1. 2.
Kim Pegula was the president of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, the holding company that managed the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League and the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League, in addition to several other minor league sports teams and entertainment assets.
3.
Kim Pegula was born on June 7,1969, in Seoul, South Korea.
4.
Kim Pegula reportedly has no recollection of her birth name and no record of her biological parents nor any account of her life in South Korea, only her date of birth, a secondhand account of being abandoned in the streets of Seoul at the age of five, and a DNA test that showed that one of her parents was likely Japanese.
5.
Kim Pegula was brought to the United States and was adopted by Ralph and Marilyn Kerr on December 30,1974.
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Kim Pegula grew up with her adopted family in Fairport, New York, a suburb of Rochester.
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Kim Pegula participated in cheerleading and the school band, playing bassoon.
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Unable to afford the fare, she applied for work at a restaurant in Belfast, New York; while interviewing for a waitressing gig, she met Terry Kim Pegula who was dining at the restaurant.
9.
Kim Pegula was involved in her husband's company, East Resources, from 1991 to its sale in 2010.
10.
Kim Pegula influenced the planning and construction of LECOM Harborcenter, a mixed-use development next to the Sabres' arena and part of the revitalization of downtown Buffalo.
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Kim Pegula helped coin the term "One Buffalo" and is involved with the NFL Foundation.
12.
Kim Pegula acquired two more professional sports teams, the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women's Hockey League and the Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League.
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In March 2018, Kim Pegula was named to the National Football League's business ventures committee, replacing Russ Brandon.
14.
Kim Pegula served on the NFL's Super Bowl and major-event advisory committee.
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Kim Pegula became the first female team president in the history of both the NFL and NHL when she became president of the Bills and Sabres franchises.
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Kim Pegula remained president of the organization and its properties until its dissolution in 2023, which occurred after a major health incident in 2022 that left her unable to fulfill her duties.
17.
Kim Pegula is one of a handful of female NFL owners, including Sheila Ford Hamp, Virginia Halas McCaskey, Amy Adams Strunk, Carol Davis, Denise DeBartolo York, Gayle Benson, Janice McNair, Jody Allen and Dee Haslam.
18.
Kim and Terry Pegula have three children, Kelly, Matthew, and Jessica, who is a professional tennis player.
19.
Kim Pegula has two stepchildren, Michael and Laura, from Terry's previous marriage.
20.
In June 2022, Kim Pegula was hospitalized in an intensive care unit in Boca Raton for reasons the family would not disclose.
21.
On February 7,2023, Jessica Pegula revealed in a Players' Tribune article that Kim Pegula's hospitalization was due to her having gone into cardiac arrest, which progressed into a "brain injury" leading to "significant expressive aphasia and significant memory issues" due to the prolonged lack of oxygen to her brain.
22.
Jessica Kim Pegula credited her sister, Kelly, for saving their mother's life as she had taken a CPR class just months prior.
23.
Kim Pegula's assets were placed into a trust managed by Terry and his longtime business partner Bob Long, while her stepdaughter Laura Pegula assumed Kim's role as Bills co-owner in early 2024.