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Former New York Mets president Lorinda de Roulet has died aged 95. De Roulet chaired the Mets board of directors during the 1970s and was the first woman to take charge of day-to-day operations of a major league team. She passed away on October 26th, according to club historian Jay Horwitz. A statement posted by the Mets read: 'We extend our condolences to the de Roulet family upon the death of Lorinda 'Linda' Payson de Roulet, who was the daughter of Joan Whitney Payson, the first owner of the New York Mets. 'Upon the death of her mother in 1975 and until the club was sold to Doubleday & Company in 1980, Linda, who was 95 when she passed last weekend, served as team President and later Chairman of The Board'. On top of succeeding her mother as president of the Mets, de Roulet was also deeply involved in civic and cultural institutions during her life. She is survived by her three children, five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren, according to an obituary by the New York Times. Speaking to the same outlet back in 1978, de Roulet spoke on her Mets role and said: 'It never occurred to me that I would wind up running the team 'I guess I thought mother would keep running things and my husband was interested too.' After the Mets were sold, prior to the 1980 season, de Roulet's tenure as Mets president came to an end. She was succeeded by Fred Wilpon. De Roulet's mother, Payson, was the first woman to buy majority control of a North American sports franchise and also served as the team president from 1962. She also played a crucial role in the trade which Willie Mays return to New York in 1972 in the twilight of his career. After starting his career with the New York Giants, the franchise later moved to San Francisco and Payson was integral in bringing Mays back to the Big Apple. A condition of the trade, according to the Post, is that Payson assured Mays that the franchise would retire his No.24 jersey. They did so in 2022.
