Rungo, tireless advocate for rights of children, dies

Friday, Feb. 2, 2001 | 10:20 a.m.

Linda Evans Rungo is being remembered today as a dedicated longtime executive at both the old and current MGM Grand hotel-casinos and as a tireless advocate for the rights of abused and neglected children.

Services were scheduled for today at Davis Paradise Valley Funeral Home for Rungo, a Las Vegas resident of 26 years who died Monday. She was 52.

"Linda was everyone's winner," said longtime friend and co-worker Michele Tell. "Her most special attribute was that she brought out the best in everyone she ever met and touched everyone's life in such a personal, unforgettable way."

For 26 years, Rungo oversaw the art and logos production department at the MGM.

The artwork created by her staff of commercial artists -- from the silhouette of the Jai Alai player at the old MGM Grand, now Bally's, to versions of the roaring lion symbol of the current MGM -- have adorned cabs and billboards and become synonymous with Las Vegas.

Born Oct. 31, 1948, in Washington state, her parents were Charles Hendrickson and the former Sylvia Labree.

Rungo graduated from Lincoln High School in Seattle at age 15 and earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Washington. By age 20 she was running her own ad agency, Linda Evans & Associates, in Seattle. Her high-profile clients included Olympia Beer and Alaska Airlines.

She met Tony Rungo and the couple moved to Las Vegas in 1975 where they married. That year, she went to work for the old MGM. In 1993, Rungo helped open the new MGM at Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

Rungo left the MGM in 1999 to become vice president of production at Hospitality Printing and Design and Visitingcities.com.

A dedicated worker on behalf of abused and displaced children, she hosted the Linda Rungo Day charity event at the MGM Grand Theme Park. With sports celebrities including champion boxer Roy Jones Jr. and rodeo champion Ty Murray, Rungo held fund-raisers for Child Haven and Reach Out.

Rungo is survived by a daughter, Colleen Terry, a son Robert Meyer Burnett; three brothers, Kevin Hendrickson, Johnny Hendrickson and Terry Hendrickson; and a stepmother Natalie Hendrickson.

The family suggests donations in Rungo's memory to Child Haven, 701 N. Pecos Road, Las Vegas, NV 89101.