David Modell, son of Art Modell, the late owner of the Baltimore Ravens when the team came to town from Cleveland in 1996, died Jan. 13 after a nearly two-year battle with lung cancer. He was 55 years old.
In early 2016 at a cancer benefit in Baltimore, Mr. Modell said he had been battling “fourth-stage lung cancer. I was told I have a year to live a year ago.”
He said, in an email to ESPN Cleveland in spring 2016, he was simply continuing to battle on and would not stop.
“We’ll just keep fighting the fight,” he said in the email.
The younger Modell served a number of roles with the Baltimore Ravens. He was the Ravens’ president and chief operating officer and also worked with the Browns in Cleveland, starting low on the ladder and working his way up. Those roles grew in time.
According to his biography on Bloomberg.com, Mr. Modell was involved in all parts of the “formation and management” of the Ravens, going as far in detail as picking its colors to working with people on the logo and uniform designs, as well as leading the search and selection process for a new coach. He had his hands in many areas.
Art Modell was the person most identified with the Ravens when they arrived in Baltimore and often became the driving force for things involving the team, but David Modell did much behind the scenes at a variety of levels and was well known for his work. While he made have had a lower public profile than his father, David Modell handled many things involving business and marketing as the Ravens grew into a popular entity in Baltimore.
When the team relocated from Cleveland before the 1996 season, for example, Mr. Modell helped conduct a vote among fans with The Baltimore Sun to pick the team’s name. The winner, of course, was the Ravens.
He also did a great deal of work in the community with the team, just as Art Modell did in Cleveland and later Baltimore. Such community work became a hallmark of the Ravens’ organization and has remained a team commitment to Baltimore and Maryland.
Overall, David Modell was a part of the NFL for 25 years. He also worked as an attorney after leaving the Ravens and served as the chairman of 3ality Digital, LLC, after stepping away from the team when Steve Bisciotti took over as owner in 2004.
Mr. Modell and his brother, John, were adopted by Art Modell after he married their biological mother, Patricia Breslin, in 1969. Art Modell died Sept. 6, 2012, and the Ravens went on to be a surprise Super Bowl winner that season while wearing a small patch that said “Art” on their jerseys and helmets.
David Modell said the time he missed his father most was Sundays, even more than holidays, due to the bond they shared watching football. It proved to be something special Mr. Modell appreciated and never forgot.
“He and I spent Sundays together for so many years — 30-35 years,” he said in a Baltimore Business Journal article when the Ravens were in Super Bowl XLVII. “I’d be sitting at home watching the game with him or here at the game with him, and that’s what I miss. These are our holidays.”