Gilbert Shaw, better known as Gil, was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles, California, where he had his bar mitzvah. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the US Navy and became a combat correspondent. The next twenty-seven years was a military career in both the Navy and Coast Guard and included service in both Korea and Vietnam. His training as a journalist and photographer gave him a trained eye on the history around him. This gave him a keen eye on his experiences as a founding member of Las Vegas' first Reform Judaism synagogue, Congregation Ner Tamid.
William S. "Billy" Weinberger (1913-1996) was president of Caesars Palace in the 1960s and 1970s. He was also president of Bally's Park Place casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the 1970s and 1980s and ambassador emeritus for the Golden Nugget and the Mirage in Las Vegas in the 1980s and 1990s.
Corinne "Corky" Moss (née Wollman; April 22, 1924 – 2001) was a philanthropist involved in establishing and supporting multiple educational and community efforts in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was the daughter of Murray Wollman, a Las Vegas landowner and developer, and his wife Agnes. The family moved to Las Vegas in 1936, where Moss graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1941. She graduated from Stanford University in 1945 and married Melvin S. Moss in 1946, with whom she had two daughters.
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.
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.
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.
William S. "Billy" Weinberger (1913-1996) was president of Caesars Palace in the 1960s and 1970s. He was also president of Bally's Park Place casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the 1970s and 1980s and ambassador emeritus for the Golden Nugget and the Mirage in Las Vegas in the 1980s and 1990s.