Ellsworth, Elmo Hughes, 1911-1971

Hotel sales promotion manager Elmo Hughes Ellsworth was born in Safford, Arizona in 1911. He attended George Washington University Law School for a year until his job required him to move to San Francisco, California where he worked in sales promotion, publicity and theaters. He married Charlotte Rowberry in 1936 and a few years later they moved to the Las Vegas, Nevada. There he began working in the Security and Public Relations Department of the Basic Magnesium Company. Two years later he was appointed board supervisor in Nevada for the Office of Price Administration. In 1947 he began working for the Reno, Nevada Chamber of Commerce. A year later the family moved back to Las Vegas, Nevada where he worked for the local Chamber of Commerce. The iconic neon sign Vegas Vic was rumored to have been modeled after Elmo. He was made Director of Membership and Conventions for the Chamber of Commerce. In 1957 he accepted a position at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada where he became its Vice-President of Sales, and then Assistant to the President. He and his friends organized J. E. E. and Associates to promote sales of conventions in Las Vegas, Nevada. Shortly thereafter, Elmo Ellsworth passed away in December of 1971.