Accountant Charles J. Hirsch was born in New York City, New York on November 8, 1912. After graduating from New York's Pace University in 1938, with a degree in Accounting and Business Administration, he traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was employed by the Apache Hotel on Fremont Street. His stay in Las Vegas was interrupted once by a five-year tour of duty with the Air Force Contract Audit Division, where he attained the rank of captain before his release in 1946.

Jack Wayne Zunino was born July 13, 1948, in Elko, Nevada to John Wilson Zunino and Loretta Yvette Hansen. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Utah and a master's degree in landscape architecture and environmental panning from Utah State University. In 1989, Zunino established JW Zunino Landscape Architecture, a firm that became a cornerstone of landscape design in the Southwest.