Harry Reid Dies: Senate Majority Leader and Nevada Gaming Chair was 82

Harry Reid, an iconic Silver State politician who made his Deutsche Mark inwards Las Vegas and Washington, died Tuesday at the age of 82.

Best known across the country as the Democratic leader in the US Senate from 2005 to 2017, including viii years as the Senate Majority Leader, the Searchlight indigene served his home res publica inward some content for nearly a half-century. That started after he won election to the body politic Assembly in 1969, and included a term as lieutenant governor from 1971-1975. He was the youngest police lieutenant regulator inward the state’s history.

Two years later, he would suit chairman of the Silver State Gaming Commission (NGC). His four-year full term in that respect was notable for a pair reasons.

Reid was enshrined in the Gambling Granville Stanley Hall of Fame inwards 2001. Besides his time on the NGC, the Hall of Fame noted Thomas Reid served as a vox for “hundreds of thousands of people whose jobs are supported by gaming,” as swell as communities that rely on gaming as an economical engine.

Landra Reid, Reid’s wife of 62 years, issued a statement locution he died peacefully Tues afternoon with his household around him. He succumbed to pancreatic malignant neoplastic disease after a “courageous” four-year fight.

“We are so proud of the legacy he leaves behind both on the subject leg and his dear Nevada,” Landra Thomas Reid said.

Funeral arrangements testament follow revealed in the nigh future.

Denied Rosenthal Gaming License as NGC Chair

Reid was the chairman when the NGC voted in 1979 against giving Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal a gaming license. Police inwards Las Vegas had dictated that Rosenthal had been running several casinos behind the scenes without a license. The Commission refused to issue him one, citing his felonious put down and his ties to organized crime.

The deuce men had a encounter after the auditory sense that was caught on video, where Rosenthal asked Thomas Reid inward front end of several reporters to affirm that the chairman sought-after(a) his help quashing an unfavourable story.

Rosenthal’s lifetime was the basis for the flick Casino, and the commission’s hearing was portrayed inwards the Martin Scorsese film. Dick Smothers played the role based on Reid.

In his memoir The Good Fight, Reid recalled a 1981 incident inward which his married woman thought on that point was an emerge with the family’s place wagon. The police were eventually called and a bomb was found committed to the vehicle.

Reid also helped the FBI stoppage Jack Gordon inward 1978 after the entertainment manager tried to consecrate him a $12,000 payoff to clear two young cassino games. Thomas Reid allowed authorities to employ his office for a sting, transcription Gordon’s endeavour to payoff him. As agents came into Reid’s power to wee-wee the arrest, Reid stormed Gordon and tried to gag him.

The term on the NGC was not without some controversy. An FBI affidavit inward 1979 revealed conversations betwixt organised criminal offense leaders who claimed to exert moderate o'er Reid. Reid strenuously denied having any ties to the mob.

After serving on the Gaming Commission, Thomas Reid would dish up deuce terms in Congress, representing Nevada’s First District before winning election to the US Senate inwards 1986. He served quint terms before retiring inwards January 2017.

Las Vegas-based journalist and author Geoff Schumacher told KNPR in a Feb 2016 interview, when he was director of mental object for the Mob Museum (he now is the museum’s vice president for exhibits and programs), that Reid’s time as NGC chairman potential helped him train for his career on Capitol Building Hill.

“It gave him a thickly skin, if he didn’t already hold one,” Schumacher said. “I mean, he faced a lot of pressure when he was on the Gaming Commission, and it came inwards a change of ways, and ane of those was threats against him and his family.”

Las Vegas Airport Recently Renamed for Reid

Reid, who historied his 82nd birthday on Dec. 2, made headlines earlier this month when the say officials renamed McCarran International Airport nigh the Las Vegas Strip inwards his honor.

The name alteration testament be more than $7 million, paid for through and through incorporated and private donations. Boyd Gaming Executive Chairman William Boyd, former Diamond Resorts Chairman and CEO Sir Leslie Stephen Cloobeck, and noted sports better and businessman Billy Walters all gave $1 one thousand thousand for the cause.

His endure post on Twitter, dated Dec. 14, was a financial statement expressing gratitude over the honor.

The airport is a real special come out to me,” Reid said. “I worked hard during my years inwards United States Congress to facilitate build and grow the airport, and it is a seed of tremendous congratulate to me… It is the indispensable fixings to Las Vegas’ success; it is the gateway through which millions follow from every corner of the humanity to consider our city, which is like no other come in on earth.”

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak issued a statement Tuesday shortly after the proclamation of Reid’s death. He noted that Thomas Reid emerged from menial beginnings to get ace of Nevada’s more ardent voices in the nation’s capital.

Sisolak called Thomas Reid a trusted mentor, a begetter figure, and a square shooter.

“To say Harry Reid was a whale doesn’t to the full capsule all that he completed on behalf of the tell of Silver State and for Nevada families,” Sisolak said. “There will ne'er follow another leader quite an like Sen. Reid.”

American Gaming Association President and CEO Bill Miller, a former congressional auxiliary and a longtime lobbyist and public affairs executive, described Thomas Reid inward a financial statement as “the ultimate gaming champion.”

“I’m grateful for having known the senator end-to-end my calling in Washington, DC,” Glenn Miller said. “Without a shade of a doubt, Sen. Reid was ane of the sharpest, most effectual political minds to ever so enter the arena.”

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