CASINO MAGNATE, REPUBLICAN MEGADONOR
Sheldon Adelson, who rose from a modest start as the son of an immigrant taxi driver to become a billionaire Republican powerbroker with a casino empire and inf luence on international politics, has died. He was 87.
Adelson died from complications related to treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Las Vegas Sands announced Tuesday. The company announced last week that Adelson had stepped away from his role as CEO and chairman to resume treatments for the cancer, which he first announced in 2019.
In business, Adelson transformed a landmark Las Vegas casino that was once a hangout of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack into a towering Italian-inspired complex, trailblazed a trend of turning business conventions into a lucrative industry and left his mark on some of Asia’s most cosmopolitan cities.
In politics, Adelson was a record-breaking campaign donor who had the ear of domestic and international leaders, including President Donald Trump. His advocacy redefined U.S. relations with Israel during the Trump administration and bolstered ties that U.S. politicians and American Jewish teenagers had to the country.
Adelson, the son of Jewish immigrants, once said at a gambling conference that he hoped his legacy would not be his glitzy casinos or hotels but his impact in Israel, where he had a deep and lifelong attachment.
Adelson was a late bloomer in business and in politics. He didn’t become a casino owner, or a Republican, until well into middle age. Through the 1990s and after his wealth soared, his engagement in politics intensified.
Adelson has donated over $250 million to GOP candidates and groups since 2015. In 2020, he gave $75 million to a super PAC that attacked Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Forbes ranked him No. 19 in the U.S., worth an estimated $29.8 billion.