Friday, July 20, 2001 | 9:14 a.m.
Services for longtime Las Vegas gaming executive Leo Lewis, who casino owners and the state hired when gambling operations were in trouble, will be 1 p.m. Saturday at Palm Mortuary, 7400 W. Cheyenne Ave.
Lewis, who also co-founded UNLV's College of Hotel Administration and long taught classes there, died Tuesday of heart failure at a local hospital. He was 70. Visitation at Palm Mortuary will be 11 a.m to 1 p.m. Saturday.
In 1979 Lewis became the state-appointed general manager of the Aladdin hotel-casino, which at the time was being overseen by the Nevada Gaming Commission pending its sale, following the convictions of two of its top officers in a Detroit federal court for concealing hidden interests.
During his gaming career, which spanned from the late 1950s to the mid-1990s, Lewis held top executive positions -- often general manager -- at the Dunes, Binion's Horseshoe, Flamingo, Tropicana, Golden Nugget, Sahara and Barbary Coast hotels and was an executive vice president for the Del Webb Corp.
"Part of success is not being afraid to fail," Lewis told the Sun in a July 14, 1983, story. "You must make that decision no matter what the consequences. And you've got to do it your way. That's called style. Hopefully, your way involves the confidence, courage and guts to make decisions."
As for being hired to fix troubled resorts like the Aladdin and, at the time, the Tropicana, Lewis said, "People came after me. I never went after any position.
"I was willing to do things in an organization that no one else wanted to do. Every time something came up that was uncomfortable or unfamiliar, I always said I would do it. ... That's the approach I advise people to take who are just getting started in the business world."
Born Aug. 24, 1930, in Middleville, N.Y., a suburb on Long Island, Lewis described himself as a lazy youth who was not a very good student. But at New York University he majored in accounting and minored in management.
He moved to Las Vegas in 1958 and was hired first at the Dunes and then at the Horseshoe as assistant comptroller. Lewis' gaming jobs were interrupted by a brief stint as an executive for Nevada Savings and Loan.
Lewis is survived by two daughters, Linda S. Lewis and Lydia F. Clarke, and one son, Larry S. Lewis, all of Las Vegas; two sisters, Rose Solomon and Charlotte Kuzins, both of Los Angeles; and two grandchildren.
His family suggests donations to the Leo Lewis memorial account on behalf of the William Harrah College of Hotel Administration c/o UNLV Foundation, 4505 Maryland Parkway, P.O. Box 451006, Las Vegas, NV 89154-1006.
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