Jerome D. "Jerry" Mack (1920-1998) was a banker, investor, and community leader in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mack and his business partner E. Parry Thomas were the first bankers to loan money to casinos in Las Vegas. Mack was a co-founder of Nevada Southern College in the 1950s, now known as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Mack and Thomas established UNLV's land foundation, which added 400 acres to the campus in 1967, and they funded the basketball stadium, which was named the Thomas & Mack Center in their honor.
Kerin Rodgers was born in 1936. She recounts her family history and stories of her youth growing up in Boston, MA, and shares how the family relocated to Seattle, WA in the mid-1940s. She talks about her enjoyment of theatrical arts and politics, and about being a resourceful divorced, single-mom and entrepreneur. In 1958 she opened a retail fashion store and modeling agency with a friend in Santa Monica, CA. Kerin had a knack for fashion and interior design that would assist her then and into the future. She also shares the story of arriving in Las Vegas as part of retail job with The Broadway stores in 1966—a two-week stint that seemed to have no ending. Her transition into Las Vegas included remarriage, a 1974 Keno win that enabled her to put down money on a home ( a house built by Paul Huffey) in the John S. Park neighborhood, and making close friends in the community. Her interview is sprinkled with tales of activities and personalities from the neighborhood's past and present. Kerin was involved with the Focus Youth House, speaks about First Fridays and art, as well as gives a perspective of police, criminal behaviors and changes in the neighborhood over the years. She hosted a local television show and enjoyed being a community activist.
Oral history interview with Michael A. Cherry conducted by Barbara Tabach on September 19, 2014 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. In this interview, Justice Michael Cherry talks about how he came to Las Vegas, Nevada and his work as a public defender and as a lawyer in private practice. He also discusses his involvement with Jewish organizations in various capacities, and his involvement with high-profile cases such as the MGM Grand and Las Vegas Hilton fires, earning him the nickname "master of disaster."