Ted Lerner, the billionaire real estate developer who bought the Washington Nationals in 2006 for $450 million and oversaw their thrilling rise to 2019 World Series victors, rewarding his native city with its first major league championship in 95 years, died on Sunday, Feb. 19, at his home in Chevy Chase, MD. He was 97.

“In my first legal case, the court appointed me to represent a parking attendant charged with stealing the cars he was parking,” Mr. Lerner wrote in ForbesLife magazine in 2013. “I got his sentence reduced from two years to six months, and he promptly left town without paying me. I figured there had to be a more rewarding way to make a living.”

Reportedly, he borrowed $250 from his wife to get started in real estate.” From that start, he built more than 20 million square feet of commercial and residential space, The New York Times said.