Las Vegas artist Kelley dies

Monday, May 7, 2001 | 10:14 a.m.

As an artist, Don Kelley prided himself on being an idea man.

His brainstorm, while he was working for Philco in Las Vegas in the 1960s, created the engineering concept and art design for the two-door refrigerator-freezer.

His work was ubiquitous in the 1970s and '80s, seen from full-page auto ads in the newspapers to menus at many Las Vegas restaurants.

His design of the Aladdin hotel-casino's Arabic-themed logo, created while he was art director of the original hotel, still graces the resort.

Donald Leighton Kelley, a Navy veteran who survived the sinkings of two ships, then carved out a career in the fine and commercial arts, died Friday of lung cancer at Nathan Adelson Hospice. He was 79.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 39 years will be 1:30 p.m. May 18 at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City. Bunkers Mortuary handled the arrangements.

Kelley's oil paintings of landscapes and Las Vegas golf courses hang in homes and collections nationwide.

"My father was a significant man in the art and media community here for many years," Tracy Kelley of Las Vegas said. "He had an ability to come up with great concepts and designs for the people he worked for."

Born March 27, 1922, in Millbridge, Maine, Kelley was the middle of three children of Walter and Cora Kelley. In 1941, at the outbreak of war, Kelley went to Bath, Maine, to work in the shipyards.

The next year he joined the Navy and was aboard USS Duncan when that destroyer was sunk at Guadalcanal. He spent a night in shark-infested waters and watched half of the crew perish awaiting rescue.

Later in the war, Kelley was aboard USS Schubrick and had the distinction at serving in both artillery support at Omaha Beach, Normandy, on D-Day and later at Okinawa, where the Shubrick was sunk by a kamikaze. He was decorated with the Purple Heart and numerous campaign medals.

After the war, Kelley earned a fine arts degree at George Washington University and was hired as art director at the Washington Post. He later worked for major advertising firms in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Chicago before moving to Las Vegas in 1962.

In Las Vegas, Kelley also worked in commercial art for Melvin Advertising, Kelly Advertising and KVBC-TV Channel 3.

"This is my home -- where else can you go where the desert and all its beauty is minutes away?" Kelley said in a story in the April 29, 1979, Sun. "To an artist, that is living."

One of his largest works was "Kelley's Wall" at the old Las Vegas Press Club. Featuring blocks of the names of hundreds of prominent Las Vegans, the wall raised thousands of dollars for charity. It was demolished when the Charleston Plaza Mall was leveled during city redevelopment.

A cigarette smoker for more than 40 years, Kelley threw away his last pack of Benson & Hedges in the mid-1970s and quit cold turkey. A few years ago, however, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He retired in 1999 and was an avid golfer.

In addition to his daughter, Kelley is survived by his former wife, Rosemary Kelley of Las Vegas; sons Jeff Kelley of Oakland and Mark Kelley of Las Vegas; granddaughters Erin Marie Kelley and Ellen Kelley Radecki and grandson Ling Chen Kelley of Beijing, China.

Kelley was preceded in death by his brother Bud and, on April 27, by his sister Berniece.