Billionaire casino and resort hotel magnate Sheldon Adelson passed away on Monday, January 11th, following complications from treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 87.
Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Adelson exercised an entrepreneurial prowess from a young age, which led to successful ventures selling newspapers, running a vending machine business, and eventually a tour business. He soon got into venture capitalism and purchased computer tradeshow Comdex, a show that was held in Las Vegas and eventually become the nation’s top computer exhibition. The show’s success inspired Adelson to purchase the iconic Sands Hotel and Casino in 1989 and build a one million-square-foot convention center addition, marking a turning point in the city’s evolution as a business hub. The Sands was demolished less than 10 years later, in 1996, to make way for the Venetian, which is home to more than 8,000 guestrooms and more than 150 retail options.
Adelson also purchased the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada’s largest circulating daily newspaper, in 2015 for $140 million.
