Those we lost: Notable Nevada figures who died in 2021

Nevada lost several notable people in 2021, including hotel-casino developers, business tycoons and Strip entertainers.

Here’s a list of notable Silver State figures who died this year:

Sheldon Adelson

Sheldon Adelson, one of the most successful luxury resort developers, philanthropists and political influencers of his generation, died Jan. 11 from complications related to treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He was 87.

Adelson founded and served as the chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp. from its inception in 1988.

A generous philanthropist, Adelson and his wife, Miriam, underwrote medical research, a private school, drug rehabilitation clinics and several other causes. He built The Venetian, Palazzo and Sands Expo and Convention Center, which is now known as The Venetian Expo, helping transform the hotel-casino industry along the way.

“To me — as to his children, grandchildren, and his legions of friends and admirers, employees and colleagues — he is utterly irreplaceable,” Dr. Miriam Adelson said.

Born in Boston, Adelson conducted extensive business around the world, including in Macao and Singapore.

Adelson’s family purchased the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2015.

Harry Reid

Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid died on Dec. 28 after a four-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 82.

He was the longest-serving U.S. senator in state history. A Democrat, Reid spent 30 years in the U.S. Senate, including four terms as majority leader.

President Joe Biden, a longtime colleague in the Senate, took to Twitter, calling Reid a dear friend and “a giant of our history.”

The Clark County Commission honored him on Dec. 14 by rechristening the Las Vegas airport as Harry Reid International Airport.

Siegfried Fischbacher

Siegfried Fischbacher, half of the legendary illusion team Siegfried & Roy, died Jan. 13 at 81. Fischbacher met his partner Roy Horn on a cruise ship in 1957, and the two came to Las Vegas in 1967. Their show at The Mirage would headline 5,750 sellout performances.

Fischbacher and Horn, who died in 2020, were remembered as “larger than life.” Fischbacher would visit the secret garden at The Mirage in his later years and interact with visitors, pulling coins out of thin air to give them.

Myrna Williams

Former Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams, who advocated for women, the homeless and the poor during more than two decades in state and local politics, died Dec. 27 at her home. She was at 92.

Former Clark County Manager Thom Reilly said he will remember Williams as “a longstanding champion of the poor,” who had a deep affection for child welfare and was a fixture in the Nevada Legislature and Clark County Commission.

Stanley Mallin

Stanley Mallin, a hotel and casino developer who was inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame in 2019, died Sept. 11 at 98.

Mallin co-founded Caesars Palace and Circus Circus with his longtime partner Jay Sarno and has a street named after him near the hotels. He was remembered as a “gentleman” and an avid golfer after his death.

Kenny Lee and his father, Hae Un Lee

Hae Un Lee, founder of Lee’s Discount Liquor and a prominent philanthropist, died Aug. 27 of pancreatic cancer. He was 79. Lee, whose nonprofit gave millions of dollars to organizations in Southern Nevada, founded his first liquor store in 1981 after emigrating from South Korea.

On Nov. 19, his son, Kenny Lee, 53, was killed in a car crash in Northern Nevada. Kenny Lee, the CEO of Lee’s Discount Liquor, had worked with at his father’s stores since he was 12. The company described Kenny Lee as a loving son, husband and father, and noted that he also loved golfing and the Vegas Golden Knights.

John Ascuaga

Northern Nevada gaming icon John Ascuaga founded the Nugget in Sparks in 1960, turning it from a small coffee shop into a full-fledged resort. He died June 28 at 96.

Ascuaga was known for roaming the casino floor and greeting patrons until the resort’s sale in 2013. He was remembered for his “boundless energy” and “larger than life” personality.

Charles Heers

Charles Heers, who built the first tract homes in Las Vegas in the 1950s, died Jan. 2 in Newport Beach, California. Heers, 94, was hospitalized with pneumonia after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

Heers built thousands of homes in the Las Vegas Valley and also founded a number of hotel-casinos, including the Tuscany Suites.

Donald Brinkerhoff

Donald Brinkerhoff, a landscape architect and “visionary” designer whose work transformed the Strip, died July 16 at 90. He worked on several Strip properties, starting with The Mirage in 1989 and including Resorts World Las Vegas, which opened in June.

He also designed the Strip’s center median and worked with most major Strip developers.

Charles Mathewson

Charles “Chuck” Mathewson, the former International Game Technology chairman and a philanthropist, died Oct. 24 at his home in Reno. Mathewson, 93, is credited with transforming IGT from a regional company to a giant in the gaming industry.

Mathewson was inducted into the American Gaming Association’s Gaming Hall of Fame in 1997. A “mythical figure,” Mathewson helped transform the slot industry and was a significant donor to the University of Nevada, Reno.

Lacy Thomas

Lacy Thomas, a former University Medical Center executive, died in December. Thomas took the helm of the hospital in December 2003 and was fired in January 2007 after an audit found the hospital had lost $34 million, nearly twice the $18.8 million loss that Thomas had told his superiors.

He was charged in 2008 with five counts of theft and five counts of official misconduct, but the case was declared a mistrial.

James Bilbray

James Bilbray, a former congressman from Nevada, died Sept. 19 at 83. Bilbray was born in Las Vegas and later served as student body president at UNLV. He served four terms in Congress and later served on the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors.

Two of Bilbray’s daughters also followed him into politics, and he has an elementary school in Las Vegas named after him. He was married to his wife, Michaelene, for more than 60 years. He said in 2011 that his roots in Nevada would be permanent.

“I was born here, I was raised here and I’ll die here,” he said. “I love Vegas, and I’ll always stay here.”

Carole Vilardo

Carole Vilardo, the former Nevada Taxpayers Association president, died Dec. 5 at 80. Vilardo started with the NTA in 1986 and served as president from 1989 until her retirement in 2016.

She was remembered as a “careful, creative, and critical thinker” who had a profound impact on the organization and other groups in Nevada. She also served on several local and state committees during her career.

Tempest Storm

Legendary burlesque star Tempest Storm died April 20 at 93. Storm blazed a trail for striptease artists for more than a half-century.

“Tempest was easily one of the best-known and highest-regarded burlesque performer of all time, and was an active part of the burlesque community right to the end,” Burlesque Hall of Fame Executive Director Dustin Wax said. “She will be missed terribly in the Burlesque community and well beyond it.”

Don Hill

Don Hill, the saxophonist for The Treniers, died June 25 at 99. Born in Texas, Hill started playing trumpet when he was 6 and started playing saxophone as a teenager. The Treniers — named for their twin-brother frontmen — also were pioneers of Las Vegas’ lounge scene. The group’s exuberant performance style was captured in a handful of movies, including “The Girl Can’t Help It” and “Don’t Knock the Rock,” both in 1956.

Hill played with The Treniers for 55 years and played nearly every lounge on the Strip.

Dave Hickey

Dave Hickey, an art critic and former UNLV English professor, died Nov. 12 of heart disease. He was 82. Hickey, who lived in Las Vegas for nearly 20 years, was a 2001 MacArthur Fellowship “genius grant” recipient.

“Dave felt that Las Vegas had a culture where everyone was equal because there was no institution that had a very deep past,” said his wife, Libby Lumpkin. “He felt there was a freedom of inventing oneself in Vegas that was more possible than anywhere else on Earth. He saw it as a particularly American city.”

Leon Spinks

Leon Spinks, the former heavyweight world champion who stunned Muhammad Ali to win the title in 1978, died Feb. 5 after a five-year battle with cancer. He was 67.

Spinks, an Olympic gold medalist in 1976, outpointed Ali in one of boxing’s biggest upsets to win the title in Las Vegas before losing it in their rematch. He fought six times in Las Vegas and moved to the valley in 2011.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Dr. Miriam Adelson, widow of Sheldon Adelson and the majority shareholder of Las Vegas Sands Corp.

This file was updated on Jan. 4 to include the deaths of Harry Reid and Myrna Williams.

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.