Mel Exber (1923-2002) was an innovative sports book operator and the longtime owner of the Las Vegas Club casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Exber was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 3, 1923. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and moved to Las Vegas in 1947. With his business partner, Jackie Gaughan, Exber opened the Saratoga Sports Book in 1953. Exber bought the Las Vegas Club in 1960, and also owned interests in the El Cortez, Plaza, Club Bingo, Western, Nevada, Gold Spike, and Barbary Coast.
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Sam Friedman was a Jewish business owner in Las Vegas, Nevada during the 1930s. He owned a popular clothing store on Fremont Street, which he sold to Nate Mack in the late 1930s or 1940s.
Marschall, John P. Jews in Nevada a History. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2008.
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Nathan "Nate" Jacobson was the president of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada during the 1960s. Formerly an insurance executive and a part-owner of the Baltimore Bullets basketball team, Jacobson partnered with hotel developer Jay Sarno to build Caesars Palace, which opened in 1966. Jacobson served as president of Caesars until 1969, when it was sold to Clifford and Stewart Perlman of the Miami-based Lum's restaurant chain.
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Herb Kaufman (February 18, 1930 – April 6, 2010) was a Las Vegas, Nevada businessman and president of Temple Beth Sholom from 1979 to 1983. He was born in St. Louis and moved to Las Vegas in 1965, where his career included operating Wonderworld Stores, partnering with Johnny Carson to purchase KVVU TV-5, and pursuing several independent business ventures. Kaufman served on many philanthropic boards, including: the American Cancer Society, Sunrise Hospital, Easter Seals, and the Clark County Housing Authority.
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Ruby Kolod (1910-1967) was a co-owner of the Desert Inn hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Born in New York City on July 27, 1910, Kolod moved to Las Vegas around 1950 to purchase the Desert Inn with longtime associate Moe Dalitz and other investors. The Desert Inn group of investors had ties to organized crime and owned several hotel-casinos in Las Vegas in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1964, Kolod was sentenced to four years in prison for threatening Robert Sunshine in relation to an oil-lease investment.
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Samuel Lionel is a Las Vegas, Nevada attorney and co-founder of Lionel Sawyer & Collins, a law firm focused on gaming Lionel founded the firm in 1967 with former Governor Grant Sawyer and Jon Collins. It became one of the largest firms in the state, representing major Strip developers and gaming clients, Lionel Sawyer & Collins dissolved in 2015 and Samuel Lionel joined the Fennemore Craig law firm. Lionel is a retired lieutenant colonel Judge Advocate General and a member and chairman of the Board of Bar Examiners of Nevada.
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Jeffrey David Sobel (October 23, 1943 - June 9, 2006) was an elected judge in the Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was born in Chicago, Illinois and moved to Las Vegas in 1969, where he started his career as a deputy public defender, then became chief deputy in the Clark County Public Defender's Office. Sobel practiced law privately from 1973 to 1990, focusing on criminal defense and business and domestic litigation.
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Dave Stearns was a gambler and entrepreneur who owned and operated several casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1935 he bought the Meadows Club on Boulder Highway with his brother Sam Stearns and Larry Potter. By 1941, the Stearns brothers also operated the Northern Club in downtown Las Vegas, which Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel invested $18,000 in.
Gragg, Larry D. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel: The Gangster, the Flamingo, and the Making of Modern Las Vegas. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2015.
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Sam Stearns was an owner-operator of several casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1935 he bought the Meadows Club on Boulder Highway with his brother Dave Stearns and Larry Potter. By 1941, the Stearns brothers also operated the Northern Club in downtown Las Vegas, which Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel invested $18,000 in.
Gragg, Larry D. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel: The Gangster, the Flamingo, and the Making of Modern Las Vegas. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2015.
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