Mark Fine was born February 10, 1946 in Cleveland, Ohio, and was raised with a strong Jewish identity. When Fine was in fourth grade, his parents moved the family to Shaker Heights, and again moved to Arizona during his senior of high school. Upon graduation, Fine enrolled at the University of Arizona and became a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. He graduated in 1964 with a degree in business administration with an emphasis in real estate.

Richard "Dick" Blackburn Taylor was a prominent businessman in Las Vegas, Nevada and amateur historian of Southern Nevada. Taylor was born on January 31, 1929 in Quincy, Illinois and grew up in Glendale, California. After graduating high school in 1947, he attended Washington and Lee University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Hawaii. He served in the 4th Infantry Division of the United States Army in Germany during the occupation following WWII. In 1957, he married Charlene Flora Belknap and they had four children.