Did You Know Philadelphia Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie Is a BU Alum?
Philadelphia Eagles owner and Boston University alum Jeffrey Lurie (Wheelock’75) hoists the George Halas Trophy after the NFC Championship NFL football game January 26, 2025, in Philadelphia. The Eagles play the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s Super Bowl LIX. Photo by Lauren Bacho via AP
Did You Know Philadelphia Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie Is a BU Alum?
He’s Super Bowl bound this weekend, and we compiled some interesting tidbits about him
He owns the Philadelphia Eagles, which is why on Sunday he will be front and center at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, when his team faces off against the Kansas City Chiefs. But did you know Jeffrey Lurie (Wheelock’75) is not only a Boston University alum, he’s also one of the biggest Boston sports fans imaginable?
Let’s overlook for now that his Eagles beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, 41-33, in 2018. That’s ancient history. (One person who would like to forget that game is Patriots legend Tom Brady, who will also be at the Super Bowl, calling the game for Fox Sports.)
Here are some nuggets about Lurie you should know heading into the Super Bowl, which airs Sunday on Fox (kickoff is at 6:20 pm ET). And in case you’re curious which way the BU alumni community will be rooting, there are about 10 times more alums in Philadelphia (7,300) than in Kansas City (700). So apparently it’s cheesesteaks over barbecue sauce!
- Everything Lurie learned, he learned in Massachusetts! He was born and educated in and around Boston: he got his undergraduate degree at Clark University, his master’s degree in education at BU, and then finally his doctorate in social policy at Brandeis University.
- Lurie, 73, was an adjunct assistant professor of social policy at BU.
- Lurie overlapped while at Wheelock with BU Athletic Hall of Famer Dave Lindstrom (Wheelock’77). After finishing at BU, Lindstrom played eight seasons (1978-85) for the Kansas City Chiefs and lost in a bid for the US Senate in 2020.
- According to the Boston Globe, “The Boston native was fervent about his hometown sports teams to the point where he would sleep overnight outside of Boston Garden to snag tickets for obstructed-view seats to Bruins games. When the Celtics reached the playoffs, he and his Clark buddies camped outside the Ticketron office in the parking lot of the Auburn Mall to be the first in line for tickets. ‘I got to know the lady in charge there,’ he recalls. ‘She was very helpful.’”
- His thesis at Brandeis focused on how women are depicted in Hollywood films.
- His interest in Hollywood was no accident. Philip Smith, his grandfather, founded the General Cinema movie theater chain. Lurie worked for General Cinema and has produced several Hollywood films, including 1988’s Sweet Hearts Dance and 1990’s I Love You to Death. He had a cameo in a scene with Tom Cruise in the 1996 hit movie Jerry Maguire. And he’s even won three Academy Awards as executive producer for the documentaries Summer of Soul (2021), Inside Job (2010), and Inocente (2012).
- A die-hard New England Patriots fan, Lurie tried to buy the franchise in 1993, but backed out when the price got too steep. Bob Kraft (Hon.’95) swooped in the next year and built a dynasty.
- According to another BU alum, prominent sportswriter and podcaster with The Ringer Bill Simmons (COM’93), Lurie was “in the running” until just this week to buy the Boston Celtics.
- Lurie is a huge supporter of the autism community through the Eagles Autism Foundation. It was founded in 2019 and its roots started with his mother, Nancy Lurie Marks, a prominent Boston-area philanthropist, who established the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation in 1977, focused on helping “people with autism lead fulfilling and rewarding lives.”
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