Saturday, Aug. 10, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
By Bob Shemeligian
and Ed Koch
LAS VEGAS SUN
William S. "Billy" Weinberger, renowned nationally as the dean of casino gaming and internationally as a humanitarian who supported many civic and religious causes, has died in Las Vegas. He was 83.
Weinberger, president of Caesars Palace in the 1960s and '70s, died Thursday at his home following a lengthy illness.
During his gaming career, Weinberger also was president of Bally's Park Place in Atlantic City in the 1970s and '80s and ambassador emeritus first for the Golden Nugget, then the Mirage in the 1980s and '90s.
"If you measure a man by his friends and by the respect he earned from those whose lives he touched, then Billy Weinberger comes out as one of the most successful human beings I have ever known," said Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn.
A close friend of the family for three decades, Wynn said he last spoke to Weinberger on Wednesday, when he telephoned the casino executive at home.
Services for Weinberger, a 19-year Las Vegas resident (1966-77 during his first stay and 1988 until his death), will be 1 p.m. Sunday at Palm Mortuary, 7600 S. Eastern Ave.
Weinberger's charitable deeds knew no bounds.
His work locally with organizations like the American Cancer Society and the National Conference of Christians and Jews earned him accolades such as the 1972 Man of the Year honors from the Nate Mack Las Vegas B'nai B'rith Lodge and the 1968 NCCJ Distinguished Merit Award.
When Weinberger persuaded his friend Frank Sinatra to waive his customary $100,000 appearance fee and perform at the Atlantic City Medical Center Benefit Concert in the late 1970s, people in that community started calling him "Mr. Atlantic City." The event raised $600,000.
In Cleveland, Las Vegas and Atlantic City, he assisted or started Bluecoats Inc. programs that helped widows and children of police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty. In the late 1960s, he founded the Las Vegas chapter and was its first president.
A tireless benefactor to the state of Israel, Weinberger received awards and tributes from local and international dignitaries on many occasions for his efforts. Among them was the 1975 Prime Minister's Medal for Israel Bonds.
Mike O'Callaghan, a former two-term Nevada governor who is the SUN executive editor and chairman of the board, said Weinberger was a professional who enjoyed the admiration and friendship of everyone around him.
"Billy brought class to Las Vegas and to every place he was an executive," O'Callaghan said. "He made all of us feel warm and accepted in his presence."
Another longtime friend was Joe Delaney, SUN entertainment columnist.
"Billy was one of the all-timers -- he was Caesars Palace when he was there," Delaney said. "And Bally's Park Place would never have succeeded as well as it did without him.
"When I was in Atlantic City visiting my daughter Megan, I rang Billy and he answered his own phone, and at that time he was making a million-plus a year."
Weinberger's son, William D. Weinberger, said his father loved working as ambassador emeritus at The Mirage because he loved the casino business and he loved working with people.
"My father was really a casino goodwill ambassador, and that was his long suit," Weinberger said. "He knew how to take care of people and how to make them happy."
The casino executive worked 12- and 14-hour days six days a week, even in later years.
"His work was his hobby, and he enjoyed doing it more than anything else," his son said.
In his position, Weinberger dealt mostly with high-rollers, and the casino executive was cordial and gracious to them, as he was to everyone else.
"It didn't matter whether you were royalty or the next-door neighbor, in my father's eyes, they were all the same," Weinberger's namesake said.
Born Feb. 8, 1913, in Cleveland, Weinberger's family operated the largest catering business in Ohio.
He moved to Las Vegas in 1966 to take a position as food and beverage director for Caesars Palace. Just two years later, Weinberger was elected president of the hotel's board of directors.
A resilient man, Weinberger survived a spectacular crash with a fire truck on Flamingo Road at Koval Lane in November 1975. The truck hit Weinberger's Cadillac, sending it spinning across several lanes into a stopped milk truck. He reportedly suffered several broken ribs.
An unselfish man, Weinberger would chew on the end of inexpensive cigars but kept expensive Cuban smokes in his office refrigerator to dole out to friends, as reported in a May 1978 feature story in the Washington Post.
In 1977, Weinberger left Southern Nevada for Bally's Park Place. But he returned here in 1988 at the behest of Wynn to help spark gaming at the Golden Nugget.
"People who live elsewhere tend to think of hotels and casinos in downtown Las Vegas as less than Grade A," the elder Weinberger told the SUN in a 1988 interview. "(But) I want to show them this place (the Golden Nugget) and let it change their minds."
Weinberger served on the American Cancer Society board, where he co-chaired the 1969 fund-raising drive, and as a member of the board of directors for Temple Beth Sholom.
He also served as general chairman of the Las Vegas Combined Jewish Appeal and as a member of the board of directors of the United Fund. He was vice president of the local United Way in 1976.
Weinberger's wife, Jean (nee Zinner) Weinberger, who also was active in community affairs, died in 1993.
In addition to his son, Weinberger is survived by his daughter, Barbara Leidner-Fleischner of Short Hills, N.J.; four grandsons, Michael Weinberger and Matthew Weinberger of Las Vegas, Kenneth Leidner of New York City and Andrew Leidner of San Francisco.
DONATIONS: To the William Weinberger Endowment at the William Harrah College of Hotel Administration at UNLV, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154.
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