PERSON: David Samson

Nothing Personal with David Samson

Host

David P. Samson (born February 26, 1968) is the host of Nothing Personal with David Samson and co-host of The Sporting Class with former ESPN president John Skipper at Meadowlark Media. Samson was the president of the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball. He was president of the Marlins from 2002 until September 2017. He held the title of Executive Vice President with the Montreal Expos from 1999 to 2002, working in both cities under team owner and former stepfather Jeffrey Loria. Samson was also a contestant on the reality TV program Survivor: Cagayan in 2014.

As president of the Marlins, Samson played a key role in negotiations to secure a public/private partnership to build a retractable roof ballpark which opened on April 4, 2012. He was one of the driving forces behind the rebranding of the franchise following the 2011 season. The rebranding, which was revealed on November 11, 2011, included the changing of the club’s name from the Florida Marlins to Miami Marlins and changes to the team’s logo and uniforms.

Several controversies have surrounded Samson’s tenure in baseball, both in Montreal and Miami. Samson is known for his outspoken nature, especially in dealings with the media and major lawsuits have been filed in response to his business dealings on behalf of the Expos and Marlins.

Samson was born to Allen and Sivia Samson in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on February 26, 1968. Samson is Jewish. He was the couple’s second child, following older sister Nancy. Allen and Sivia divorced not long after Samson’s birth, and his mother moved with her two children to New York City in 1976. Samson also has half siblings, sisters Rachel and Samantha and a brother, Daniel, from his parents’ subsequent marriages.

Upon moving to New York City, Samson was enrolled at the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, where he completed grades 1–12. Following high school, he attended Tufts University in Somerville, Massachusetts for one year before transferring to the University of Wisconsin for his sophomore year. He graduated from Wisconsin in 1990 with a B.A. in Economics and a minor in Philosophy. Samson attended the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University beginning in 1990, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1993.

Samson and his wife, Cindi, were married in 1990 and have three children: Hannah, Kyra, and Caleb.

Following his graduation from law school, Samson founded News Travels Fast in 1993, the first company to deliver The New York Times, and later Barron’s and The Wall Street Journal, to Europe on a same-day basis. The rise of internet sites that provided news delivery would eventually bring an end to the endeavor in 1996.

In early 1997, Samson joined Morgan Stanley as an investment advisor, a position he held until joining the Montreal Expos’ front office in December 1999.

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