Ronald P. Lurie is a former mayor and city councilman of Las Vegas, Nevada. Born in Los Angeles, California on January 23, 1941, Lurie graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1958. He attended Arizona State University and Nevada Southern University (now known as University of Nevada, Las Vegas). From 1966 to 1978 Lurie was vice president of Wonder World Liquors, co-owned by his father Arthur Lurie. Lurie began working in the gaming industry in 1978, as a sales executive for International Game Technology, a video poker machine company.
Josiah Edward Spurr (1870-1950) was born into a family of fishermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He received his Master's degree in geology from Harvard University in 1894 and was appointed to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) the same year. In 1896, Spurr was sent, with two other USGS geologists, to survey the Alaskan interior. This historically important expedition was followed in 1898 by an equally important journey down the 702 mile-long Kuskokwim River, surveying previously uncharted mountains, lakes, volcanoes and glaciers.