Marty Lederhandler/Associated Press
David Stern, who during a 30-year run as commissioner of the National Basketball Association masterminded its transformation from a league in peril to a multibillion-dollar industry and the first American sports league to thrive internationally, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 77.
His death was announced in a statement from the N.B.A. Mr. Stern suffered a brain hemorrhage on Dec. 12 and underwent emergency surgery.
The N.B.A.’s fourth commissioner, serving from Feb. 1, 1984, to Feb. 1, 2014, Mr. Stern intimidated many with his domineering ways, but he also possessed a marketing vision and instinct that helped lift the league from its darkest period to new levels of prosperity — and popularity — both domestically and abroad.