Roy Eisenhardt

Emil Roy Eisenhardt

• School Dartmouth College, University of California at Berkeley
• High School Columbia High School (Maplewood)

• Born 1939 in South Orange, NJ USA

Biographical Information

Roy Eisenhardt served President of the Oakland Athletics from 1980 to 1986.

After an Ivy League education, he served in the United States Marine Corps on Okinawa for a couple of years before attending law school at the University of California at Berkeley and then working as a lawyer. He married Betsy Haas, the daughter of Walter Haas, and in 1980 helped his father-in-law negotiate the purchase of the Athletics from Charles O. Finley, a move that finally ushered in a period of stability for a franchise that had been on a roller-coaster ride since its relocation from Philadelphia via Kansas City. He was named team President by Haas, who did not want to take part in the day-to-day operations of the club. One of his major moves was to sever ties with manager Billy Martin, who had been a Finley hire and had led the team on a turnaround that culminated in an appearance in the 1981 Postseason, but who had burned his bridges with just about everyone during the 1982 season.

In addition to his work in law and baseball, he has been an adjunct professor of law at his alma mater and the University of San Francisco, where he has taught a course on Sports and the law. He was also Director of the Women's Tennis Association for a spell. He served as the executive director of the California Academy of Sciences from 1989 to 1995 and interim President of the San Francisco Art Institute.

Related Sites

• University of San Francisco bio