Known as 'the Grave Dancer,' Zell was an unlikely media baron when he purchased the Tribune Co.: Sam Zell, who made his billions resurrecting troubled businesses that ran the gamut from bicycles to real estate, has died. He was 81. Where others saw red ink, Zell saw potential value, calculated the risks and plotted a path to profit. “You gotta dance around the edge,” the brash, bearded mogul, who delighted in calling himself “the Grave Dancer,” once wrote of his investment philosophy.