Former Giants Managing General Partner Bill Neukom Dies at 83

Bill Neukom, who served as the San Francisco Giants’ managing general partner for nearly four years, died on Thursday at 83 years old, the team announced.

Neukom coined the phrase, “The Giants’ Way” as the franchise won the 2010 World Series, its first title since 1954.

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Current Giants CEO Larry Baer was his successor after he stepped aside in 2012.

“On behalf of Greg Johnson, our ownership group and the Giants family, we extend our deepest condolences to Bill’s wife, Sally, and the Neukom family," Baer wrote in a statement. "Bill will always hold a special place in our hearts and in the history of this franchise.”

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Neukom, a lawyer by profession, joined the Giants’ ownership group in 1995. In 2008, he took over as the franchise’s managing general partner, which made him the leader of the ownership group and the public-facing face of the franchise.

He and other investors bought a portion of then-owner Peter Magowan’s stake in the team.

At the time he took over the Giants were beginning to ascend as an organization. They were in their second season under manager Bruce Bochy and went 72-90 in 2008. The following season, the Giants improved to 88-74, followed by the 2010 season in which San Francisco went 92-70, won the National League West and the World Series.

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In September of 2011 he announced he would retire from his role with the team and was replaced by Baer at the start of 2012.

The San Mateo, Calif., native grew up in the Bay Area, went to Dartmouth for his undergraduate work and then received his law degree from Stanford.

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After a short clerkship and nine years with a small law firm. Neukom joined Shidler, McGroom, Gates and Lucas in Seattle. The Gates, in this case, was Bill Gates Sr., who was one of the managing partners in the firm and the father of Bill Gates, who would eventually found Microsoft.

He served as Microsoft’s outside counsel and eventually became the company’s first general counsel.

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