Bunker quietly made impact
Officials mourn popular leader
Richard Bunker had what it took to be high-profile — power, good looks, an articulate way of speaking — but he let his work do the talking.
“Where he was you knew that he was doing his best, without a lot of fanfare,” former Sen. Harry Reid said Monday.
For more than four decades Bunker shaped Southern Nevada as a leader in both its public and private sectors. He died Sunday morning at age 85, three weeks after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, according to his son, Morgan Bunker.
A fourth-generation Southern Nevadan, Bunker was known for avoiding the spotlight despite heading Clark County, the Colorado River Commission and the Nevada Resort Association at different points in his career.
“Richard quietly made things happen,” said Jan Jones Blackhurst, an executive at the Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment Corp. “He was a behind-the-scenes guy. He wasn’t one of those guys standing up and giving an oration on where we want to go. He just got us there.”
Bunker was already revered in Nevada politics by the time he began lobbying for the Nevada Resort Association as its president in 1990. Billy Vassiliadis, 62, a lobbyist and CEO of R&R Partners, remembered him as bringing gravitas and a lighthearted attitude to the halls of the Nevada Legislature.
“He had this kind of strong exterior, but meanwhile he could just as funny and mischievous,” Vassiliadis said. “He really had such a well-rounded approach to life.”