John Rooney, son of Steelers founder, dies at 83

John Rooney, son of Pittsburgh Steelers founder Arthur J. Rooney Sr., has died.

The brother of former Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney, and a minority shareholder in the team, John Rooney was one of five children of Art, who founded the team in 1933.

John Rooney was 83.

Late Wednesday morning, the Steelers released a brief public statement on Rooney’s death, highlighting his roots as an alumnus of North Catholic High School who had been born on Pittsburgh’s North Side and later served as a member of the Steelers’ board of directors.

We are saddened by the loss of John J. Rooney. pic.twitter.com/ZkZfwto3K1

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) December 28, 2022

John Rooney at one point had a 16% share of the Steelers, but he sold most of it in 2009 as ownership coalesced around Dan Rooney and his son, current team president Art Rooney II.

At that time, the NFL did not want any member of a franchise ownership group to be associated with gambling enterprises, and John was among the Rooney brothers with financial interests in horseracing tracks. The league also had a rule that a majority owner must have at least a 30% share of a team.

John was one of Art’s five sons — including Dan, Art Jr., Tim and Pat. John and Pat were twins. After the death of Art Sr. in 1988, each of the sons had inherited an equal share of the team in addition to 20% that was owned by the McGinley family. During the 2009 divestment, John joined Art Jr. in keeping a smaller (6%) piece of the team.

The New York Giants posted a message of condolence to their official Twitter account. The founders of the Giants, the Mara family, are distant relatives to the Rooney family.

“The Giants family is saddened to hear of the passing of John Rooney, son of Art Rooney (The Chief), founder of the Steelers, and brother of Dan Rooney,” the Giants’ statement read. “Our thoughts are with his family, friends and the Steelers family.”

John Rooney was involved in the management of the Steelers’ training camp at Saint Vincent College near Latrobe, according to Steelers.com.

His cause of death was not released.

Word of John Rooney’s death came soon after the Steelers hosted a public, closed-casket viewing of legendary Steelers running back Franco Harris at Acrisure Stadium on Tuesday.

Dan Rooney died in 2017 at age 84 while he was still serving as chairman of the Steelers and was maintaining a regular presence at their headquarters on Pittsburgh’s South Side that bears the family name.

Staff writer Chris Adamski contributed.