Longtime masonry contractor Marnell dies at 76

Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2001 | 9:03 a.m.

From the 1950s through the '80s, Tony Marnell Sr. did masonry work for many Clark County schools.

It was satisfying for him to help in the process of providing education centers for children, as circumstances in his youth prevented him from getting an education beyond ninth grade.

"It was the depression, and my father had to leave school to work to support his mother, brother and sister," said George Marnell, who today runs the company his father founded in the late 1950s. "He did a lot of work on a lot of schools over the years, and we still do a lot of schools today."

Anthony Marnell Sr., who started as an apprentice bricklayer in Southern California in the 1940s and eventually did masonry work on nearly every hotel on the Strip, numerous local churches and hundreds of Las Vegas homes, died Friday at Mountainview Hospital. He was 76.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 49 years were to be this morning at Palm Mortuary-Eastern. Interment will be in Palm Valley View Cemetery.

George Marnell said the cause is believed to be pneumonia. Marnell suffered a stroke on Independence Day two years ago and never fully recovered, his son said. Marnell also underwent a heart transplant in 1989.

Marnell's other son is Tony Marnell II, chairman of Marnell-Carrao Construction Co., of Las Vegas, one of the state's top construction and architectural firms that built major Las Vegas resorts. He also was the original owner of the Rio hotel.

"My father was a very committed individual in everything he did," George Marnell said. "He always was grateful that he got a second chance at life with his new heart. It allowed him to once again play golf, which was his favorite pastime, and to see the birth of his great-grandchildren."

Born Sept. 19, 1925, in Pittston, Pa., Tony Marnell was the second eldest of three children of Italian immigrants Augustino and Emma Marnell. Augustino, a carpenter, died when Tony was 4.

In 1943 Tony met Marie Conforti in New York and married her two years later. The couple moved to California in 1946. She preceded him in death in 1983, the year he retired.

Marnell moved to Las Vegas in 1952 to do masonry work on residential and commercial projects, including the old Sands hotel.

In the late 1950s Marnell and Dominic Bianchi founded Marnell-Bianchi Masonry, which eventually became Tony Marnell Co. In the early 1980s George bought the firm from his father, renamed it Marnell Masonry and moved it from its longtime 1908 Western Ave. address to its present location at 5455 Polaris Ave.

In 1985 Marnell married Nedra Campbell of Las Vegas, who survives him.

Late in 1989 Marnell underwent a heart transplant at the University of Arizona Medical Center.

"I feel just like a million dollars," he told the Sun in a Jan. 29, 1990, story about his successful surgery.

In addition to his wife and two sons, Marnell is survived by his brother, Matthew DeLullo; his sister Grace Conforti; three granddaughters, Desiree Jorgensen, Heather Wallace and Alisa Marnell; a grandson, Anthony Marnell III; great-granddaughters Ashley Jorgensen and Kaitlyn Wallace; and great-grandsons Zachary Jorgensen and Garrett Wallace, all of Las Vegas. He was preceded in death by a son, Michael Marnell.

The family said donations can be made in Tony Marnell Sr.'s memory to the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center, P.O. Box 245046, Tucson, AZ 85724.