The Buckingham

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Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, has died.  He was 80.

Buss had been hospitalized for cancer, but died of kidney failure on Feb. 18 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Buss had bought the Lakers over 32 years ago for $67.5 million from Jack Kent Cooke.  The deal also included the NHL’s L.A. Kings, the L.A. Forum sports arena, and Cooke’s California ranch.  He eventually increased the team’s value to $1 billion, making it the second in the NBA, behind the New York Knicks’, to be worth over a billion.

Buss’s team made the NVA finals 16 times during his 32 years with the Lakers, and won 10 titles between 1980 and 2010.

He’s survived by his six children.