Bernie Glieberman, the former owner of the Ottawa Rough Riders, Ottawa Renegades, and Shreveport Pirates, passed away on Monday at the age of 84.
Glieberman bought the Rough Riders for $1 in 1991 and assumed the team’s debt in exchange. He installed his son, Lonie, as the president of the team, which went 13-23 over the 1992 and 1993 seasons, losing the East Semi-Final both years.
Amid talk that the Gliebermans wished to move the Rough Riders to the United States, the league allowed for the team to be split into Canadian and American halves. The American half became the Shreveport Pirates, which went 8-28 during the 1994 and 1995 seasons before folding. The Rough Riders folded after the 1996 seasons under owner Horn Chen.
The Gliebermans resurfaced in Ottawa in 2005 when they purchased the Renegades with Lonie returning as the team’s president. The team went 7-11 that season and folded the following spring.
“My dad was always the first guy I called when I had a business problem, a success, an idea, or something I was trying to figure out,” wrote Lonie on a social media post. “He was always excited to step in and help me work it through. He always made me feel better when the phone call was done and the complex problems were not nearly as problematic after talking to him.”
The native of West Bloomfield, Mi. was a real estate mogul, developing over 30,000 housing units during his career.
Glieberman is survived by his wife of 59 years, Sandee Glieberman, as well as two children and three grandchildren.
