A legal battle involving former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth’s family trust is garnering national headlines.
The Athletic, the sports division of the New York Times, in early April was first to report on a lawsuit filed in 2025 by Vicki Ueberroth Booth—daughter of the Emerald Bay resident who ran the LA Olympics in 1984—that contends “millions of dollars have been wasted or misused over the last two years while Peter and his wife Virginia are in cognitive decline.”
The target of the lawsuit is longtime family friend Mike McKee, who, the story notes, is chairman of Tiger Woods’ Irvine-based charity, the TGR Foundation.
Business Journal readers might better know McKee as the former CEO and No. 2 at the Irvine Company. The former Latham & Watkins partner also has served as a principal of Contrarian Group, Ueberroth’s private equity firm, since 2018.
McKee took over as trustee of the family’s trust in April 2024, amid declining health of Ueberroth, now 88. Two years ago, he was diagnosed with “moderate dementia, with strong concern for Alzheimer’s disease,” the story noted.
Ueberroth Booth’s lawsuit claimed that “McKee repeatedly subordinated the interests of the trustors and beneficiaries to those of third parties, including himself, in direct violation of his statutory duties.”
There’s been no evidence presented that McKee enriched himself in the trustee’s position.
The biggest accusations in the story, which didn’t include a response from McKee, are that $2 million was transferred to a LA-area charity that the family was not affiliated with (and later returned), and that continued operations of Contrarian Group have come with excessive spending.
Ueberroth Booth has long served as president of the Ueberroth Family Foundation, whose biggest reported donations have been locally based. Her court petition sought to oust McKee as trustee, with her taking over, among other demands.
What hasn’t been reported: court filings indicate that Ueberroth Booth has been unsuccessful in her efforts to replace McKee, which appears to be the impetus for taking the case to the court of public opinion.
A December 2025 ruling noted that “the admissible evidence presented does not persuade the court that allowing McKee to continue administering the Trust is likely to result in loss or injury to any beneficiary or creditor.”
Sources tell the Business Journal that the value of the family trust has increased substantially under McKee’s stewardship.
Rodgers and Hammerstein fanatics can travel to Salzburg, Austria, to get the full “Sound of Music” tour experience, or brave the drive to the Hollywood Bowl for the annual singalong to the famed movie in LA.
Even closer: Newport Beach’s Lido Theater on April 19 hosts its own singalong. Tickets can be bought online; the event benefits MenAlive and Voices Alive, a new, local LGBTQIA+ choir/nonprofit.
