Irwin L. Jacobs, a former part-owner of the Minnesota Vikings, was found dead on April 10 in a murder-suicide, according to reports.
Officials did not identify the two bodies in the home, but people close to the couple said that he shot her before turning the gun on himself, reported the Star-Tribune.
Family friend Dennis Mathisen described Jacobs as “upbeat” three days before the incident took place.
“I talked with his son Mark yesterday, and he talked to both of them,” Mathisen told the newspaper. “He said Irwin seemed up.”
Jacobs and his wife were both 77, and they were married for 57 years.
Hennepin County emergency dispatchers received a call of a man and woman who was found dead in a bed at their home. A handgun was on the bed, Orono Chief Correy Farniok told MPR.
According to the Star-Tribune, Jacobs made his millions by purchasing and liquidating failed companies. At one point, he was worth $200 million.
“Critics branded Jacobs as ‘Irv the Liquidator’ for the way he took apart companies that he acquired, sometimes leaving big job cuts in his wake,” the public broadcaster said.
Jacobs, in 1985, said he had no regrets about how he handled his business.
“From my own personal accomplishments, I’m beyond whatever I dreamt I would be in my life. More important than that I feel good about what I do and I love what I do,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jacobs said at the time that he didn’t take offense to the “liquidator” moniker.
“We don’t buy companies, tear them down and sell them to the scrap mills. We have 500 locations throughout the world, 46 countries, 60,000 employees, $2 billion in revenues,” he was quoted by MPR as saying. “And I’m a raider. And that’s OK. I got no problem with it. Matter of fact, somebody said to me one time, ‘Are you offended by the [label] raider?’ I said, ‘It’s a very elite group.’”
Two years later, Fortune magazine called him one of the top biggest corporate raiders, saying he had a $750 million “war chest” to work with, reported MPR.
“My love is not raiding. It’s creating. All my life, I’ve been looking for value where other people can’t find it,” he also said.
Jacobs also had a stake in the Vikings in the 1980s before selling off his share, noted MPR.
