Shirley Cuban, mother of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, dies

DALLAS (AP) — Shirley Cuban, the mother of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, has died, her son Brian Cuban said. She was 84.

Cuban died Friday in the suburban Pittsburgh home where she and her husband, Norton, raised sons Mark, Brian and Jeff, The Dallas Morning News reported. Brian Cuban said his mother died after a long battle with lung cancer.

“My mom set her own path and didn’t follow convention,” Brian Cuban said. “Especially at a time when women were expected to follow convention.”

Shirley Cuban was born Shirley Rita Feldman in 1937, the daughter of Jewish immigrants to the U.S. Her family lived in the predominantly Jewish Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. Shirley Cuban graduated from Carlow College, today known as Carlow University in Pittsburgh, and worked as a massage therapist and at an addiction rehabilitation center.

She and Norton Cuban moved to Dallas in the early 2000s after Mark Cuban bought the Mavericks’ NBA franchise. Her husband died in 2018, and Shirley returned to the Pittsburgh area, living in suburban Mount Lebanon. She was an avid Mavericks fan, Brian said.

Funeral services will be private.