Popular radio host Jaye dies

Friday, July 27, 2001 | 8:47 a.m.

For more than a quarter century, radio personality Don Jaye raised thousands of dollars for Southern Nevada charities, but he lived his last decade, and died, near poverty and battling ill health.

"Don had the biggest heart and would work hard to help anyone, even to the detriment of his own health and well-being," said longtime friend Ira David Sternberg, a journalist and fellow broadcaster. "He was always out in the community doing good work for good causes."

Donald Jaye Illes, a leading lay member of the Catholic Church and a member of the Nevada Broadcasters Hall of Fame, died Monday of respiratory problems. He was 63.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 28 years will be 10 a.m. Monday at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, 5485 E. Charleston Blvd. Visitation will be 3-7 p.m. Sunday at Davis Paradise Valley Funeral Home. A rosary will be at 6:30 p.m. Burial will be at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

A survivor of several heart attacks and two open-heart surgeries, Jaye was forbidden by his doctors from working at a regular job, so he threw himself into charity work full time, friends said.

Since 1993 Jaye lived on $670 a month from Social Security, $50 a month from the Department of Veterans Affairs and $10 a month in food stamps, all the while serving on the boards of three nonprofit organizations.

He rarely complained nor sought praise, friends said.

"Don was a very humble man who never wanted publicity for all of the work he did," said the Rev. Peter Romeo of St. Peter the Apostle Church.

"During his recuperations he was always very high spirited. He had the right attitude to survive and was highly motivated."

Jaye had a Sunday morning radio show on KXNT 840-AM to examine the Catholic faith, a show he started, he told the Sun in April, because "A lot of people -- even Catholics -- don't understand all of the elements of Catholicism."

Born Nov. 25, 1937, in South Bend, Ind., Jaye was an altar boy at a church at the nearby University of Notre Dame, where he later went to college. He studied for the priesthood before serving in the Air Force and going into broadcasting.

In 1962 Jaye was a producer for TV coverage of the Seattle World's Fair. He came to Las Vegas nine years later, and over the years co-hosted telethons and worked in public relations for Catholic Community Services and others.

Jaye, who was most proud of his several audiences with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, worked for a number of local radio stations from the 1970s through the early 1990s, including KDWN, where he hosted a popular talk show.

More recently he was spokesman for -- and member of -- the Knights of Columbus and was involved with that group's efforts to provide burial services for a newborn boy abandoned inside a trash bag behind Harrah's hotel on May 21.

Jaye was elected to the Nevada Broadcasters Hall of Fame on June 12, 1998.

Jaye is survived by his parents, Douglas Matejovsky and Clara Matejovsky, both of Las Vegas; a brother, Frederick Van Scoyk of Phoenix; and a sister, Rosalie Laxton of Las Vegas."