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Franchini, Anthony J., 1898-1997
Musician, arranger, conductor, and composer Anthony J. Franchini was born on August 2, 1898 in Naples, Italy and immigrated to the United States with his family when he was five years old. With only an 8th grade education, he worked as a music teacher in Massachusetts until he enlisted in the Army during the first World War. When he was discharged, he went to New York City, New York to pursue a career in music.
Person
Bielski, Stanislaus J., Prince, 1908-1979
Prince Stanislaus J. Bielski was born in 1908 in Bielsk, Poland, the son of Jan-Edward and Maria Bielski. He was, by his account, a Prince of one of Poland's pre-war noble families, and had inherited great wealth from his father.
Person
Hecht, Mel, Rabbi
Rabbi Mel Hecht was born July 8, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of five, his family moved to Miami, Florida where they had a large, extended Jewish family, complete with relatives who were hazzans and mohels. Soon after moving to Florida, his parents bought a hotel in Hialeah, a city 10 miles outside of Miami, where Hecht spent the remainder of his childhood.
Person
Kaufman, Jerry, 1935-2015
Jack Kaufman (September 3, 1935-August 2, 2015) was a Las Vegas lawyer and judge. Kaufman was born in Cleveland September 3, 1935. He graduated from the University of Arizona where he earned his Bachelors in engineering. He also attended Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah where he received his Masters in business. Kaufman completed his education at the California Western School of law where he was awarded with a Juris Doctorate. Kaufman moved to Las Vegas in 1965 as a government lawyer for the Nevada Test Site.
Person
Kolod, Ruby, 1910-1967
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.
Person
Brinkerhoff, Donald Carl, 1930-
Don Brinkerhoff of Lifescapes International designed features of Las Vegas casinos such as the Mirage volcano, the Bellagio conservatory, the Wynn Las Vegas mountain, the Encore Casino gardens, and the surroundings of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign on the Las Vegas Strip. He grew up in the southern California suburb of El Monte.
Person
Miranda, Tony
Dr. Tony Miranda grew up in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara, California. His father was a chef at the Santa Maria Inn, and the rest of the family spent summers picking strawberries in the surrounding fields.
Person
Rivera, Erma Linda, 1952-
Erma Linda Rivera was born in Morenci, Arizona, in 1952. In the Las Vegas Valley, where Linda has lived for over twenty years, she has promoted educational opportunities for youth, particularly in the Hispanic community. Both she and her husband moved from Montana, where her husband worked as a power plant operator on Yellowtail Dam, to southern Nevada to work on Hoover Dam in 1986. Linda was put in charge of the affirmative employment plan for her branch of the Bureau of Reclamation.
Person
Iaconis, Stella, 1910-1998
Stella Champo was born in Moche, Italy on September 16, 1910. In 1912, the Champo family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. The family first lived in downtown Las Vegas, before moving to a small ranch south of the city in 1917. Stella Champo received her grammar school education in Las Vegas, Nevada and matriculated to Las Vegas High School in 1927.
Person