David Samson

David P. Samson

• School University of Wisconsin, Yeshiva University

• Born February 26, 1968 in Milwaukee, WI USA

Biographical Information

David P. Samson was the President of the Miami Marlins from 2005 to 2017. He followed his uncle Jeffrey Loria when he traded his ownership in the Montreal Expos for a similar position with the Florida Marlins in 2002. Samson had previously served as president of the Expos after Loria became the team's principal owner in 1999. He is a graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Samson was largely responsible for working out the complex deals that were necessary to have Marlins Park built, largely at taxpayers' expense. The dealings were so unusual that the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation into the issuance of the bonds that were used to obtain financing from private investors, looking for misleading information that could constitute a case of fraud.

Samson is known for entertaining an adversarial relationship with the local media, a reputation which started in his days in Montreal, as he was largely seen as a product of nepotism who had none of the qualifications required to run a sports team, but compensated for his lack of experience with untold arrogance. He toned down his disparaging remarks after he moved to Miami and had to gain the locals' trust to have his new ballpark built, but got into hot water for making unwise statements to a local group of business leaders shortly before the new ballpark was about to open.

On June 3, 2016, he was at the center of an embarrassing situation when the Marlins jumped the gun by announcing the death of boxing great Muhammad Ali on Marlins Park's scoreboard at the end of a game against the New York Mets. The problem was that he had learned of the death from someone close to Ali, but the boxer's family had not yet made a public announcement.

His tenure as Marlins President ended with his uncle's sale of the team at the end of the 2017 season. But he still managed to ruffle some feathers as he left, as he told four members of the executive team - who all happened to be baseball legends in south Florida - Jack McKeon, Jeff Conine, Tony Perez and Andre Dawson, that new President Derek Jeter had told him their services would no longer be required after the sale and that they were effectively fired. Jeter had to intervene to stem a budding public relations disaster, stating that he had not yet spoken to the four and that his objective was to find a role for them within the new structure he was putting in place.

In 2018, he was working as a baseball analyst for CBS Sports. He stirred some controversy in May by stating that he was sorry Miguel Cabrera was stuck with the rebuilding Detroit Tigers, given the star slugger "had always wanted to come back home to Miami." Cabrera was forced to go on the record to repeat that he wanted to finish his career in Detroit.

External Links

• Interview with his school newspaper