Sharon Maurer-Schwartz was born May 15, 1939 in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was raised in a Jewish household, yet she has belonged to various types of synagogues. She met her partner, Edna Rice in the 1980s, but were not able to legally marry each other until 2008 in California. They moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1999 to raise Maurer-Schwartz’s daughter Julie. She dedicated her life to being a life coach and owning her own business, Growth Unlimited.
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Irene Fisher was born in New York, New York; October 14, 1940. Fisher moved to Nevada in 1971 following her husband Barry Fisher, who was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base. It was the early 1970s and as a young mother she found the best path to being a part of the community was to connect with the Jewish community. She joined Temple Beth Sholom, was active in Sisterhood and served on the Clark County Public Library Board (1975-1983.) Her children are Stacey Fisher and Scott Fisher.
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In this clip, Henry Kronberg discusses acquiring Stoney's, a pawn shop on First Street, in 1964. When he arrived in Las Vegas in 1962, he worked with his brother-in-law at Pioneer Loan, then purchased Stoney's, which he grew into the most successful pawnshop in town. He discusses his business partner Dave Pearlmutter, and his international customers.
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Myra Berkovits (née Mosse) was born April 10, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father emigrated from Romania to Canada, later moving to Chicago, where he met Berkovits’s mother, a daughter of Russian immigrants. After graduating from Loyola University, Berkovits married and started her career as an educator teaching at an elementary school in inner city Chicago. She taught there for twelve years before moving with her husband, son and daughter to Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Ron Lurie talks about winning a seat on the Las Vegas City Council, and the voting population of the city.
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In this interview, Susan Molasky discusses her childhood and teenaged years growing up in London, where she worked with in a fabric store. Molasky shares photos and momentos with the interviewer, and talks about originally coming to Las Vegas with her first husband, Leo Frey, in the late 1950s. She discusses raising her children in Las Vegas, and her bout with ovarian cancer, which prompted her involvement in Nathan Adelson Hospice. She continues to discuss her life with second husband, Irwin Molasky, and the causes they are involved in.
Susan Molasky was born in Israel (what was then-Palestine) in mid-1930s, the daughter of Bukharian Jewish immigrants. With the end of World War II, at the age of nine Susan, her sister and mother were able to get visas to live with her father in London. It was in England where Susan learned English and began working, at a fabric shop on Regent Street. In 1957, Susan married her first husband, and the couple moved to Las Vegas on January 1, 1958. She knew immediately that the city would be her home. Susan and her husband moved to Las Vegas to help her brother-in-law, Leo Frey, renovate and manage the Moulin Rouge; their primary business was long-term room rentals to casino employees, occasionally renting to tourists when the casino hotels were full. After two years, her husband changed careers paths and the couple moved to Europe. They had three sons before returning to Las Vegas in 1964. In 1973, Susan married Irwin Molasky, whom she had met through her work with the Sisterhood at Temple Beth Sholom; both sat on the temple's board. Susan enjoyed the excitement and glamour that defined Las Vegas during the 1970s, attending show openings, visiting movie sets, and socializing with stars. But more than this, Susan devoted herself to helping others, most notably through the opening of Nathan Adelson Hospice. Her own battle with cancer, as well as serving as a caretaker for others, ignited her commitment to establish quality hospice care in her beloved city, and she has continuously led the organization's fundraising efforts. There are now two Nathan Adelson Hospice facilities serving the greater Las Vegas area.
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