Tom Benson

Thomas Milton Benson (born July 12, 1927) is the owner of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans.

Biography

Benson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to the late Thomas Benson, Sr., and the late Carmen Benson. He served in the U.S. Navy and then graduated with an accounting degree at Loyola University of New Orleans in 1948. After school he worked as a car salesman at Cathey Chevrolet in New Orleans. In 1956, he moved to San Antonio to try and revive a poorly performing dealership; he was granted a 25% interest in the dealership for his efforts. In 1962, he became full owner of Tom Benson Chevrolet. He is the owner of several automobile dealerships in the Greater New Orleans and San Antonio areas. Benson became wealthy by investing profits from his automobile dealerships in local banks. He eventually purchased several small Southern banks and formed Benson Financial, which he sold to Norwest Corporation in 1996.

New Orleans Saints

He purchased the Saints from John Mecom in 1985 after he learned from Governor Edwin W. Edwards that the team was on the verge of being sold to parties interested in moving the team to Jacksonville, Florida. As a successful businessman, he recognized the economic implications of such a move not only for the city of New Orleans, but for the state of Louisiana as well, which was in the midst of a deep economic recession caused by plummeting crude oil prices. Ownership of the team was officially transferred to him on May 31, 1985.

Thomas Benson (American football)

Thomas Benson (born June 9, 1961) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League. He played college football at the University of Oklahoma. He played nine seasons in the NFL for four different teams.

Tom Benson (politician)

Tom Benson (26 August 1929 – 24 December 2000) was a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

Born in Enniskillen, Benson was an officer in the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He joined the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and was elected to Ards Borough Council, serving as Mayor of Ards from 1987-88. During this year, he defied a ban on UUP representatives meeting Government ministers and met the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tom King.

In 1996, Benson was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum representing Strangford, and he held his seat at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1998. He fell ill in November 2000 and died the following month. He was the first member of the Assembly to die, and was replaced by Thomas Hamilton, his hand-picked successor.

References

Tom Benson (disambiguation)

Tom Benson is the owner of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans.

Thomas or Tom Benson may also refer to:

See also