The Bills announced the addition of 10 limited partners to the ownership group. Two women — Sue McCollum and Theresia Gouw — are among the non-controlling, minority interests, something important to owner Terry Pegula.
Pegula’s wife, Kim, was heavily involved in the organization until a debilitating cardiac arrest 2 1/2 years ago, and her presence is missed, Terry Pegula said.
“One of the things I wanted to accomplish also was to bring in some women,” Pegula said from the NFL owners meetings in Irving, Texas. “We’ve got two female ambassadors who are very successful business people. You know I’ve got three daughters who are involved in the team and hopefully more so in the future, and I think that’s a good thing for them to learn some business acumen and have some female input, because when Kim went down that was a big loss of influence on my daughters as far as the business side goes. She’s unable to be involved now.”
Kim Pegula made a public appearance in July, breaking down the team’s post-practice huddle. She experienced “significant expressive aphasia and memory issues” from a brain injury following her cardiac arrest shortly after her 53rd birthday in June 2022, per an essay her daughter, pro tennis player Jessica Pegula, wrote for The Players Tribune in February 2023.
“We all miss her, especially I do,” Terry Pegula said Wednesday. “She was always the personal part of it, sending out Christmas cards, making cookies for the coaches. She’d be up at 3 o’clock in the morning every Sunday when we played making cookies for the coaches. We all miss that.”
