Sporting Kansas City mourns the passing of Pat Curran, a founding member of the Sporting Club ownership group which purchased the team in 2006 and has operated the Major League Soccer club for 19 seasons.
Curran loved Kansas City, and KC sports in particular, and was so proud to be a part of the original Sporting Club. Curran was an ultra-competitor and loved all of his time in and around the club. He was dedicated to the shared vision of keeping KC a major league town, but more importantly, he loved the challenge of putting the best team on the field.
Sporting Kansas City will honor Curran at Children’s Mercy Park in conjunction with a home match during the 2025 season.
Curran earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Stanford University, where he was a member of the Cardinal golf team.
Curran began his career in the paint and varnish business and eventually purchased Cooks Paint and Varnish in one of America’s first leveraged buyouts. He grew the business throughout the 1980’s and formed a joint venture with Total in 1990 called Cook Composites and Polymers. The joint venture surpassed $1 billion in sales.
His leadership with CCP led to accounting automation and the beginning of a long relationship with Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig. Curran pursued a variety of other business endeavors including the co-founding of C3 Capital, Curran Companies and CPC.
Curran served on the board of numerous highly successful Midwestern companies, including Applebee's International, Gold Banc, Lockton Companies, Unitog, Sealright, JPS Packaging, American Safety Razor, Imperial Headwear and Clore Automotive. He was known as a visionary that could take on complicated business issues with perseverance and a knack for execution and measured success.
Curran is survived by his wife Janet and their four children -- Josephine (Bill), Betty Jean (Cory), Wiley (Caroline) and Olivia (Will) – as well as seven grandchildren: Elle, Matilda, Freya, Smith, Otto, Asa and Archie.
Donations in his memory can be made to Antoine’s Fund, a local nonprofit created by Pat and Janet to support animal welfare.
