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Restaurant tycoon Mike Ilitch died on Friday at the age of 87. The Detroit native had paid for Rosa Parks' apartment in a safer area of the city With a headline blaring “Mike Ilitch paid for Rosa Parks’ housing for more than a decade,” the TV station’s story is just not true. The headline repeats itself on national black media sites and elsewhere. Not true. By all accounts, but particularly an Associated Press report from December 2004, Parks fell behind on her rent in 2002 Mike Ilitch once paid Rosa Parks' rent Sports Business Journal reported in 2014 about the late Tigers, Red Wings owner's good deed for a civil rights icon. Brian Manzullo. Detroit Free Press. Rosa Parks (Source: CNN) (WMC) - In the wake of Mike Ilitch's death last Friday, reports are now surfacing that the Little Caesars founder and Detroit Tigers owner quietly supported the woman who launched the American civil rights movement. Ilitch read the story in the newspaper and called Keith, offering to pay for Parks' housing indefinitely. With no fanfare, Ilitch continued paying for the apartment until Parks died in 2005, Keith Mike Ilitch didn't only own the $5 pie pizza chain but also the Detroit Tigers. He was an extremely influential and deeply involved member of the city he called home, his friends and family, and the sports community at large. However, it was a tidbit about his little-known relationship with Rosa Parks that really captivated people's attention. “It’s important that people know what Mr. Mike Ilitch did for Ms. Rosa Parks because it’s symbolic of what he has always done for the people of our city,” Keith told Sports Business Daily. READ MORE: Mike Ilitch, Detroit Red Wings owner and pizza mogul, dead at 87 But the Detroit Free Press reported that Parks was allowed to live at Riverfront Apartments rent-free from 2004 onward. The gift is also mentioned in a June 2016 letter that Keith sent to Mike and Marian Ilitch. "Mike, on another note, I was looking over my file for Rosa Parks, specifically, after she was beaten up Little Caesars Founder Paid Rosa Parks’ Rent For Over A Decade After a 1994 burglary, Detroit businessman Mike Ilitch offered to pay Parks' housing for as long as necessary. Michael Ilitch Sr . (July 20, 1929 After civil rights icon Rosa Parks was attacked in her Detroit apartment in 1994, Ilitch quietly paid years of Parks's rent to Related:Detroit Red Wings, Tigers owner Mike Ilitch dies at 87 As reported by Christopher Botta of Sports Business Journal in 2014:. On Aug. 31, 1994, Parks, then 81, was robbed and assaulted in Damon Keith is a federal judge who knew both Mike Ilitch and Rosa Parks. “I said, ‘Mike, I don’t want Rosa Parks going back to that bad neighborhood,’” Keith says. So Ilitch arranged for Mike Ilitch, the founder of Little Caesar’s, quietly paid for Rosa Parks’ rent after learning she had been robbed and assaulted in her home at the age of 81 in 1994. He helped her move to a safer neighborhood and continued to pay her rent until she died in 2005. Upon hearing of the incident, Mike Ilitch reportedly offered to pay for safer housing for Parks as long as necessary. It was a secret he kept for years. Who Was Rosa Parks? Rosa Parks made history on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955 when she refused an order to give up her seat to a white passenger and move to the back of the bus. Ilitch quietly paid Rosa Parks' rent until she died. Back in February 2014, "Mike Ilitch Paid for Rosa Parks' Housing for More Than a Decade." 11 February 2017. UPI. "Little Caesars Founder After Ilitch read about Parks’ search in the newspaper, he contacted Keith and offered to pay for Parks’ rent ($2,000 a month) in perpetuity. In total, Ilitch paid for Parks’ rent from 1994 until her death in 2005. Mike Illitch, the owner of Little Caesars, passed away at the age of 87, on February 10, and with his passing has resurfaced the story of how he came to help out Rosa Parks live out the rest of FILE- In a file photo from Nov. 14, 2014, Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch listens during a news conference in Detroit. Ilitch, the owner of the Detroit Red Wings and Tigers, who founded the “Mike, on another note, I was looking over my file for Rosa Parks, specifically, after she was beaten up and we rallied together to get her in the Riverfront Apartments (where she remained until
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