Dan Gilbert hospitalized with stroke symptoms
Detroit business mogul Dan Gilbert was hospitalized early Sunday after suffering symptoms of a stroke.
Gilbert, 57, is founder and chairman of Quicken Loans, majority owner of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers and a significant owner of downtown Detroit real estate. He was admitted to Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital early Sunday morning.
"He received immediate medical attention and is currently recovering comfortably," said a statement issued by the Quicken Loans family of companies following inquiries from The News. "Our collective thoughts and prayers are with Dan for a speedy recovery."
Details of his diagnosis and prognosis were not released; the family requested privacy.
The hard-charging billionaire is connected to dozens of business and political efforts in Michigan and Ohio, but nowhere is his presence felt as it is in Detroit.
His hospitalization comes just 30 days before his Rocket Mortgage is to host Detroit's first PGA Tour event and just days after he launched a ballot drive committee to propel auto insurance reform in Michigan. Insurance reform passed both chambers of the Michigan Legislature on Friday. It also follows his high-profile hiring of former University of Michigan basketball coach John Beilein as the new head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Gilbert is scheduled to speak Wednesday afternoon at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference.
A stroke occurs when blood supply is blocked to the brain or a vessel in the brain ruptures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Brain cells begin to die because of lack of oxygen and can lead to brain damage, disability or death. Symptoms of stroke can include difficulties with speaking, walking, seeing, paralysis on one side of the body or a sudden headache.
It is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and can result in serious disability in adults.
For years, Gilbert has been fighting for the health of his oldest son, Nick, 23, who was born with neurofibromatosis, a rare genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow in nerves throughout the body. He and his wife, Jennifer, have pledged $64 million into research in hopes of developing a treatment or a cure for the disease. Last year, Nick Gilbert had an eight-hour surgery to treat a tumor on his brain.
Gilbert has become a symbol of the city's recovery and resurgence since relocating his principal business' headquarters from Livonia to Detroit in 2010.
"We said if we're going to come down here and people are going to drive down here, park, go into a building, come down, get on a freeway and go back to the suburbs, let's just stay in the suburbs," Gilbert told a business group in March.
"If we're going to come here, let's impact things as much as we can, and try to connect and weave threads together, and we've been fortunate enough to do some of that."
Since 2010, Gilbert, founder and chairman of Rock Ventures LLC, the umbrella entity for his portfolio of business and real estate investments, has invested more than $5.6 billion in acquiring and developing more than 100 commercial properties in the city’s central business district.
Forbes listed his net worth at $7.3 billion in late May.
In December, Gilbert's Bedrock company bought a five-story 138,000-square-foot warehouse at 1800 18th St. The building is in the shadow of the Michigan Central Depot, just west of the train viaduct on Vernor, which Ford Motor Co. is renovating. It makes the purchase Bedrock's first foray in the area of southwest Detroit often called Mexicantown.