Jones, gaming supply firm founder, dies

Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2001 | 8:31 a.m.

Bernard "Bud" Jones, founder of a Las Vegas gaming supply company and member of the Gaming Hall of Fame, has died at 86.

Jones died Thursday in Las Vegas. Born June 24, 1915, in Kansas City, Mo., he served in the Navy during World War II and camed to Las Vegas in 1963.

Jones founded the Bud Jones Co., which manufactured and distributed casino supplies. The company operated with Jones as chief executive from 1965 until he retired in 2000.

In October 2000, Establissements Bourgogne et Grasset, a French company, acquired Bud Jones Co. Inc. Then in January, Paul-Son Gaming Corp., signed a letter of intent to merge with Establissements and Bud Jones, but the merger was never completed.

The Las Vegas casino supplier was inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame in 1994 and was named exporter of the year for Nevada.

He is survived by a daughter, Kathleen Steele of Las Vegas; four brothers, Leonard Jones of Las Vegas, Elmer Lee Jones of Mission, Kan., Joseph Edward Jones Jr., of Blue Springs, Mo., and Donald A. Jones of Long Beach, Calif.; two sisters, Anna May Seaton of Shrewsbury, Mass., and Teresa Crow of Pleasant Hill, Mo., and two grandchildren.

Visitation is scheduled 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at the Davis Paradise Valley Funeral Home.

Services are scheduled 10 a.m. Saturday at the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer. Burial will be at Paradise Memorial Gardens. Davis Paradise Valley Funeral Home is handling arrangements.