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Jacobson, Nate
Nathan "Nate" Jacobson was the president of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada during the 1960s. Formerly an insurance executive and a part-owner of the Baltimore Bullets basketball team, Jacobson partnered with hotel developer Jay Sarno to build Caesars Palace, which opened in 1966. Jacobson served as president of Caesars until 1969, when it was sold to Clifford and Stewart Perlman of the Miami-based Lum's restaurant chain.
Person
Lionel, Samuel
Samuel Lionel is a Las Vegas, Nevada attorney and co-founder of Lionel Sawyer & Collins, a law firm focused on gaming Lionel founded the firm in 1967 with former Governor Grant Sawyer and Jon Collins. It became one of the largest firms in the state, representing major Strip developers and gaming clients, Lionel Sawyer & Collins dissolved in 2015 and Samuel Lionel joined the Fennemore Craig law firm. Lionel is a retired lieutenant colonel Judge Advocate General and a member and chairman of the Board of Bar Examiners of Nevada.
Person
Blut, Arlene
Arlene Blut was born July 30, 1940 in Duluth, Minnesota, where she attended a Conservative Jewish. She met Michael Peikoff while attending the University of Minnesota, and they married before he began medical school in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Blut followed her husband’s residencies and fellowships to California, Michigan, and Manitoba before they came to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1971.
Person
Epstein, Kenny, 1941-
Kenneth Epstein was born in 1941 in Chicago, Illinois. When he was 15 years old, Epstein’s family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. Three years later, he began to work in the gaming industry. His mentor was Jackie Gaughan, then-owner of the El Cortez Hotel and Casino, whom he met in Lake Tahoe in 1956. In 1975, Epstein became Gaughan’s business partner in the operation of the El Cortez. He also helped Gaughan and his son open the Barbary Coast on the Las Vegas Strip in 1979.
Person
Wanderer, John
John Paul Wanderer was born February 20, 1940 in Yonkers, New York. The son of attorney Emilie Wanderer, he came to Las Vegas, Nevada with his mother and siblings in 1946. He attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and earned a Bachelor of Science degree, then graduated from Arizona State University School of Law in 1974. That same year, Wanderer and his mom established their own practice in Las Vegas, Wanderer & Wanderer.
Person
Chenin, Susan
Suzie Chenin was born August 28, 1949 in Cleveland, Ohio. The next year, her parents, Joseph and Irene Chenin, moved the family to Las Vegas, Nevada. Her father, a dentist, was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, becoming the first Jewish dentist in the state – and only the thirtieth overall. After graduating from Las Vegas High School, Chenin attended Arizona State University. However, she quit school and moved to Los Angeles, California where she got a job with a large real estate developer. This was her first foray into the industry.
Person
Finder, Esther Toporek, 1953-
Esther Toporek Finder was the president and founder of Generations of the Shoah – Nevada (GS-N), an organization based in Las Vegas, Nevada for the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. GS-N's mission is to support local Holocaust survivors and educate community members about the Holocaust and its legacy.
Person
Schwartz, Priscilla, 1938-
Priscilla (Kahn) Schwartz was born to Hyman and Elizabeth Kahn, August 3, 1938 in Buffalo, New York. Schwartz became the first member of her family to graduate from college when she received her degree in nursing from the University of Michigan.
Person
Engel, Jerry, 1930-
Jerry Engel was born in 1930 in New Jersey and spent most of his early life in Long Beach, New York until the family moved westward to Los Angeles in 1945. Jerry is a retired Certified Public Accountant and loves to talk about the history of Las Vegas that he observed since arriving in 1953. That was the year that he moved to Las Vegas to join his older brothers, Morris and Phil, in their accounting firm. Their major client at the time was Desert Inn.
Person
Stein, Melody Hope
Melody Hope Stein was born March 26, 1948 in Oceanside, Long Island, New York. She got her education from SUNY Binghamton, Harpur College, and Hofstra University. She taught art education for 46 years, in New York before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1996. She served for fourteen years as the arts director and art teacher at the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson Educational Campus (formerly Milton I Schwartz Hebrew Academy) in Summerlin, Nevada.
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