height_ft death_date weight_lb death_place birth_place team career_end position catches league height_in birth_date article_title name career_start
5 15 april 2012 180 in flight/en route from detroit to tokyo rome , italy flint generals 1974 goaltender left ihl 9 7 august 1942 bob perani
 robert -lrb- bob -rrb- perani 1969
bob perani

children : robert perani -lrb- jr. -rrb- bob perani -lrb- august 7 , 1942 -- april 15 , 2012 -rrb- was a professional ice hockey goaltender for the flint generals in the international hockey league .
he was also the founder of perani 's hockey world sports retail chain in 1976 , and owned the naming rights for the perani arena and event center .
perani died on april 15 , 2012 while traveling on an international flight from detroit to tokyo .
perani was born in italy in 1942 and moved to canada with his family in 1953 , settling near toronto .
he attended st. lawrence university and played a number of leagues in michigan and ontario .
he and his wife kris moved to flint in the late 1960s and never left .
kris died from cancer in 2006 .
the following year , as part of the ` perani group ' , he bought the flint generals .
he retired as a player after the 1974 season and went into the pizza business and in 1976 started `` bob perani 's sports shop '' .
perani retired to thailand and died on a flight from detroit to tokyo en route to thailand .
