Nevada Power executive Rigazio dies at 47

Friday, Dec. 28, 2001 | 9:39 a.m.

At a recent meeting of the board of directors of the Las Vegas Salvation Army, members agreed to pay tribute to one of their colleagues for his seven years of service.

"We were going to go to his home today," Lt. Col. Jim Sullivan said Thursday. "The board voted to name one of our new superstores in his honor."

But board members learned early Thursday that 47-year-old Steve Rigazio, who led the organization's bid to finance three construction projects and develop programs to help the poor, had died earlier that morning.

The former utility executive, who died of complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, never knew that his name would be on the Salvation Army Steve Rigazio Family Super Store when it opens next month on Durango Drive, south of Flamingo Road.

Sullivan said the board had planned to present a plaque to Rigazio while members of his family were in Las Vegas for the Christmas holiday. Instead, family members were at Rigazio's side in his home when he took his last labored breaths at around 2 a.m.

Rigazio's wife of 23 1/2 years, Annette, informed the couple's daughter of his death later that morning in a hospital room. Bethanie Rigazio, 18, had been hospitalized after breaking an arm and a leg in a Christmas Eve auto accident.

Services for Rigazio are planned for Monday at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph Husband of Mary Catholic Church at West Sahara Avenue and Tenaya Way. Another memorial service is scheduled Thursday at 9 a.m., at the corporate headquarters of Nevada Power Co., where Rigazio served as president for about a year and held a special rapport with employees after joining the company 17 years ago.

"He brought the best out in all of us," said executive assistant Kathy Schweers, who worked with Rigazio for eight years. "He encouraged us to give our opinions, but he told us to never attack the person, but to attack the issue."

A native of Oglesby, Ill., Rigazio, the oldest of four children, earned a bachelor's degree in business and economics from Eureka College, Eureka, Ill., in 1976 and later became employed as an ironworker.

He moved to Reno, where he received a master's degree in business administration from the University of Nevada in 1978 and spent three years as a stockbroker with Paine Webber before taking a job with the Nevada Public Service Commission as a financial adviser.

Rigazio joined Nevada Power as a rates administrator in 1984 and was promoted to supervisor of rates and regulations a year later and to manager of rates and regulatory affairs a year after that. He became director of system planning in 1990.

In 1991 Rigazio was named vice president of planning, then vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer a year later.

He assisted in Nevada Power's merger with Sierra Pacific Resources Inc., Reno, completed in 1999, and he became the merged company's senior vice president of energy delivery.

In August 1999, a few days before his 45th birthday, Rigazio learned that he had contracted ALS, a nervous system disorder characterized by the progressive degeneration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. When motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to control muscle movement is lost.

Rigazio accepted a promotion to president of Nevada Power in June 2000, pledging to work in that role for as long as he was physically able. When he retired, employees had a rousing parade in his honor in the neighborhood around the corporate headquarters.

"He cared deeply about Southern Nevada and about Nevada Power," said Walt Higgins, chief executive officer of the utility's parent company, Sierra Pacific Resources. "He was a genuinely great human being who faced a terrible disease as a challenge."

Roger Gehring, executive director of the New Horizons Academy, said Rigazio worked up until about two weeks ago lobbying lawmakers by phone and helping the 160-student institution apply for status as a charter school.

"He was on our board for 15 years. He was instrumental in helping us obtain the new building we're in now," Gehring said in reference to the school near Charleston and Rainbow boulevards.

Rigazio's 15-year-old son, David, is a student at New Horizons, and Bethanie is a graduate of the school.

The board of directors of Sunrise Children's Foundation thought so highly of Rigazio's qualities that it changed its bylaws to enable him to be on the board for as long as he wanted.

"As far as I'm concerned, he'll always be on our board," said Dee Ladd, the foundation's chief executive officer.

Rigazio also was on the Bishop Gorman High School board of regents and on the Nevada Development Authority.

A love for hockey led Rigazio to help organize youth leagues and volunteer time.

In one of his last public appearances, Rigazio was presented with a proclamation by Mayor Oscar Goodman and the Las Vegas City Council. The council designated Dec. 19 as Steve Rigazio Day.

After Rigazio was diagnosed with the disease, he created the Nevadans for the Prevention of ALS foundation (NPALS) in 1999 and helped raise money for the ALS Association Nevada Chapter and for ALS patients in Nevada. None of the foundation's money went to Rigazio's care.

In addition to his immediate family, Rigazio is survived by his parents, Tony and Gretchen Rigazio of Oglesby and his wife's parents, Robert and Marilyn Galli of Las Vegas.

The family suggests donations to NPALS or the Salvation Army through R&R Partners, P.O. Box 80130, Las Vegas 89180.

archive