Mark W. Tracz, 54, led effort to bring major league baseball to Washington
Hoodoo
Washington
http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2010/07/29/PH2010072905753.jpg
Mark W. Tracz
By Matt Schudel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 30, 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/29/AR2010072905740.html
Mark W. Tracz, 54, a Northern Virginia developer and financial adviser
who was an owner of minor league baseball teams, and who led an
unsuccessful effort in 1990 to bring a major league expansion team to
Washington, died July 3 at Capital Hospice in Arlington County. He had
tonsil cancer, which had spread to his bones.
Early in his career, Mr. Tracz headed companies that developed real
estate in Alexandria, Stafford County and other parts of Northern
Virginia. In 1986, he and two of his brothers bought a minor league
baseball franchise in St. Petersburg, Fla. Two years later, Mr. Tracz
was managing partner of a group that bought the Prince William Cannons,
a minor league team in Woodbridge. He also was part owner of a team in
Canada.
In 1990, Mr. Tracz was one of the principals of Capital Region Baseball,
an investment group that sought to win a National League expansion
franchise for Washington, with the eventual hope of building a permanent
stadium in Northern Virginia. Several well-known sports figures,
including tennis star Arthur Ashe and broadcaster James Brown, signed on
with the venture.
Mr. Tracz gave a presentation to the baseball expansion committee in
November 1990.
"I introduced myself as the owner of the Prince William Cannons -- one
baseball operator talking to other, bigger baseball operators," he told
The Washington Post at the time. "We said: 'We think we're sitting on a
gold mine. . . . We don't think there's any place left in the country
that's remotely comparable to the demographics of Northern Virginia. . .
. Our potential as a new baseball territory is incredible. If you think
we're crazy, tell us.' "
Late in 1990, Mr. Tracz's ownership bid fell apart when some investors
backed out during an economic downturn. He soon sold his interest in the
minor league teams. Two expansion franchises were ultimately awarded to
Miami and Denver, and the financially strapped Expos moved from Montreal
and became the Washington Nationals in 2005.
Mark Walter Tracz was born May 8, 1956, in Fulton, N.Y., and moved with
his family to Falls Church when he was 11. He graduated from George
Mason High School in 1974 and from James Madison University in 1978.
He worked as a property manager before forming an investment and
development company in the 1980s. After the real estate market
plummeted, Mr. Tracz became a financial adviser with Merrill Lynch in 1993.
A member of Vienna Presbyterian Church and a leader in prayer circles
and Bible study groups, Mr. Tracz worked from 2003 to 2005 for Prison
Fellowship, a ministry founded by Chuck Colson. Since 2005, Mr. Tracz
had been the chief executive of Montreat Wealth Management, a Vienna
investment firm.
Survivors include his wife of 28 years, Kim Hillenbrand Tracz of Vienna;
three children, Elizabeth T. Kayser of Herndon and Adam T. Tracz and
Annemarie F. "Annie" Tracz, both of Vienna; three brothers, Jack Tracz
and Patrick Tracz, both of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Dennis Tracz of
Lexington, Va.; and a sister, Marie Clem of Ashburn.
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