Obituary: Denise Miarecki Stillman

RIP to Denise Miarecki Stillman, the CEO and Chief Preservationist of the Field of Dreams. She died on November 7 after a battle with a rare form of cancer called hepatic endothelial hemangioendothelioma, according to the site’s Facebook page. She founded Go The Distance Baseball LLC and acquired the Field of Dreams movie site from original owners the Lansing family in 2011.

According to a Northwestern University alumni story, Stillman first became involved with the Field of Dreams site when her husband, Michael, and son visited there in 2010. He learned that the 175-acre site was for sale. “Based on what I saw and what I knew as a baseball mom, I thought we had quite a golden nugget,” she said.

The marketing and business development veteran acquired it with the help of investors and began work to preserve the ballfield and expand upon its premise. Plans are to include an All-Star Ballpark Heaven, a tournament location for youth baseball and softball organizations.

Stillman, before her death, arranged for the transfer of the site’s management to CEO Tom Mietzel and CFO Justin Dillashaw.

“Denise was an extraordinary woman who brought her unwavering experience, tenacity, energy and more to Go The Distance Baseball when she purchased the Field of Dreams Movie Site from the Lansing family in 2011 and founded this company. Denise has truly touched the lives of everyone she interacted with, and she will forever be missed,” read the statement posted on the Facebook page by Operations Manager Roman Weinberg.