Retail leader, former gaming commissioner Art Marshall dead at 93

Arthur “Art” Marshall, a giant in the retail clothing industry and in banking and a commissioner on the Nevada Gaming Commission for more than a decade, has died.

Marshall, 93, was the co-founder with his brother-in-law of the Marshall-Rousso chain with stores up and down the Strip. His family said he died Monday.

He also served on the Gaming Commission from 1997-2009.

“When I was a deputy attorney general, Art was on the commission and was always such a great gentleman, one of the real class acts of Nevada,” Gaming Control Board Chairman Kirk Hendrick said at Wednesday’s board meeting.

“He always came prepared and I don’t think there was ever a commission meeting that Art Marshall wasn’t smiling from the beginning of the meeting to the end of the meeting,” he said.

“What he did for business, for his personal business and what he did for gaming will leave a long impression on this state and I’m so sorry to hear that he’s gone,” Hendrick said.

Marshall, born in Cleveland, Ohio, Sept. 4, 1929, to Anna and Leo Moskowitz, grew up surrounded by close cousins who were like siblings to him. He was a first-generation American, with parents who were immigrants from Russia and Ukraine.

Marshall met and married Jayn Saltzman in 1953. They moved to Las Vegas in 1955 to be with Jayn’s parents, Abe and Sara Saltzman, and sister and brother-in-law, Malvene and Herb Rowe.

Working with Abe Saltzman, he opened a small dress shop, Sara’s of Las Vegas, building the business to three stores on the Strip. In 1962, he opened his first shop at a resort, at the Sahara. It was the first shop to soon become Marshall-Rousso, which continue to operate in Las Vegas and in airports nationwide.

Marshall had a passion for cars and became Southern Nevada’s first Rolls Royce dealer in 1975, selling it to close friend Jerry Cutter in 1979.

His career in banking began in the mid-1980s while first serving on the board of directors of Nevada State Bank, then in 1997 as chairman of BankWest of Nevada, now Bank of Nevada. He remained chairman emeritus until 2018.

Marshall served on several committees and boards for various charitable causes, including the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas and the Anti-Defamation League. In 1980, he was appointed to the Public Employees Retirement System board by former Gov. Robert List.

He was appointed to the Nevada Gaming Commission in 1997, serving three consecutive four-year terms during some of the Southern Nevada gaming industry’s largest periods of growth.

Marshall was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Jayn and a grandaughter, Dana.

He is survived by his wife Bonnie; daughter Cari Marshall; son Todd Marshall; granddaughters Jessica Marshall and Alexis Marshall Abelson; great-granddaughter, Celine Marshall Abelson; great-grandson, Leo Marshall Abelson; and Bonnie’s family, Justin Saunders, Courtney Saunders, Corbin Saunders and Michelle Saunders.

Services for Marshall are scheduled for Thursday at 9:30 a.m., at Congregation Ner Tamid in Henderson. King David Memorial Chapel handled the arrangements.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X, formerly known as Twitt