Longtime Green Bay Packers executive Bob Harlan died Thursday after being recently hospitalized with pneumonia. He was 89.
Harlan was the Green Bay Packers’ president from 1989-2006, then again for half of the 2007 season. Under his watch the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI and enjoyed their most prolonged success since the days of Vince Lombardi early in the Super Bowl era.
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According to Bleacher Report, Harlan was the winningest executive in NFL history when he retired.
Packers president Bob Harlan has died at the age of 89.
Harlan won Super Bowl XXXI with Green Bay and retired in 2008 as the winningest president in NFL history pic.twitter.com/eT8CFuQGTM
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) March 5, 2026
“He was great to work for,” Ron Wolf, the Packers general manager from 1991-2000, said (via Forbes). “He did exactly what he promised. He put me in charge of the football operations and never once did he interfere. I think he did a lot for the Packers operations and the Packers are back on the map because of it.”
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“The Packers family was saddened to learn of the passing of Bob Harlan,” Packers president and CEO Ed Policy said in a statement released by the organization. “Bob was a visionary leader whose impact on the franchise was transformational. From his inspired hiring of Ron Wolf to turn around the club’s on-field fortunes to his tireless work to redevelop Lambeau Field, Bob restored the Packers to competitive excellence during his tenure and helped ensure our unique and treasured flagship NFL franchise was on sound footing for sustained generational success.”
“Bob’s personal touch as president was something that we all can learn from,” Mike McCarthy, the Packers’ coach in Harlan’s final two seasons as president, said in a recent interview. “He just had a way. He trusted you. I loved his leadership style. I thought he was incredible in front of the media, in front of the fans. His people skills were a tremendous gift.
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“Ted (Thompson) used to call him ‘the silver tongue’ because we’d always say, ‘No one can say it like Bob.’ He was great for Ted and me. Special man. I’ll always be so grateful to him.”
“Bob’s biggest influence is everyone’s looking at the Packers and seeing a really long string of success,” former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said when Harlan was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 2004. “People are looking at Green Bay and saying, ‘What’s the formula over there?’ They’ve done it with class, they’ve done it with a focus on the game and a focus on the fans.”
So sorry to hear of the passing of former Packers President and CEO Bob Harlan. He was the man who brought the organization from decades of struggles to a rebirth of relevance and Championship. The Packers today are the product of Bob’s leadership. We will
miss him dearly.
— Wayne Larrivee (@waynelarrivee) March 5, 2026
“So sorry to hear of the passing of former Packers President and CEO Bob Harlan,” Packers play-by-play announcer Wayne Larrivee wrote Thursday on X. “He was the man who brought the organization from decades of struggles to a rebirth of relevance and Championship. The Packers today are the product of Bob’s leadership. We will miss him dearly.”
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