McNamee, member of pioneer family of attorneys, dies at 68

Jean Reid Norman

Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2003 | 8:40 a.m.

His gin rummy buddies at the old Hualapai Club downtown called him Stoney -- short for Stonehead, to reflect his stubbornness. But Joe McNamee's pride was in his family name, the one that reflected his deep roots in Las Vegas.

He shared the McNamee name with a state Supreme Court justice -- his uncle Frank -- and two generations of prominent lawyers.

His grandfather, Frank Sr., founded McNamee, McNamee and Rittenhouse in 1913, one of the first law firms in the city, the family says. His father, Leo, and brother John both became partners in the firm, which also had former U.S. Attorney Franklin "Pete" Rittenhouse as a partner.

Joseph William McNamee, the last member of his generation of the pioneering McNamee family, died Saturday at his home in Cambria, Calif. He was 68.

A vigil will be held 6 p.m. Thursday at Palm Mortuary, 1325 N. Main St. Mass will be celebrated 2 p.m. Friday at St. James the Apostle Catholic Church, 1920 N. Martin Luther King Blvd.

"He was very proud of his name because of what it represents in Las Vegas," his wife, Margaret, said. "He was so proud of his heritage."

Joe McNamee, the seventh and youngest child of Leo and Fran McNamee, added to the name's fame, serving as a state assemblyman in 1963, a partner in the family law firm and co-founder of the Silk Purse Ranch, a landmark for horse lovers in the Las Vegas Valley.

He was one of five partners in the former Marina Hotel on the Strip, which was purchased in the 1980s by Kirk Kerkorian to make room for the current MGM Grand.

"He was a mover and shaker," Margaret McNamee said of her husband, but he preferred to remain out of the spotlight. "He was not the front man."

Jerry Herbst, owner of Terrible Herbst and one of the five partners in the Marina, said McNamee was "the glue that kept the partnership together."

McNamee also worked behind the scenes on the political campaigns of the late Tom Wiesner, a former county commissioner and university regent, who was also one of the Marina partners, Herbst said.

In his sole term as an assemblyman, according to the family, McNamee, a Republican, introduced the only legislation to raise taxes on gaming.

McNamee was born in Las Vegas on Aug. 14, 1935, and grew up when the town had fewer than 5,000 residents. After being valedictorian at Bellarmine College Preparatory School in San Jose, Calif., McNamee went to Loyola University in Los Angeles, then to American University in Washington, D.C., for law school.

While at American University he married Carol Morici, his high school sweetheart, in 1957. He left the school one class shy of graduation, returned to Las Vegas with his wife and a new baby, and passed the bar exam to become a Nevada attorney. He also passed the bar exams in Washington and California, his family said.

In 1977 he bought 5 acres of raw desert in northwest Las Vegas from Ted Gilcrease. He and Margaret, whom he married in 1980, turned that into the Silk Purse Ranch, which at its peak boarded 63 horses and spread over 110 acres.

The ranch closed in 2002, but The Grove reception center that he built remains.

The ranch name was McNamee's idea: He said they made the Silk Purse out of a sow's ear.

The growth of the ranch showed another of McNamee's strengths, Margaret McNamee said. He had foresight.

"Even though I didn't think we needed it, he bought an acre at a time," she said. "It became profitable."

In 1998 the McNamees moved to Cambria, Calif., after Joe McNamee's health started to fail, Margaret McNamee said.

Once there he continued a family tradition of having a priest to dinner every week, his daughter Marian McNamee said. When the priest, Father Tony, had a chance to go to Ireland, McNamee sent him to the airport in a limousine.

That was part of his generous nature, Marian said. "He was someone not to just give someone a ride, but to make it such a big deal."

In addition to his wife and daughter, Marian, McNamee is survived by daughters Maureen McNamee Wincore, Eileen McNamee Kern and Terese McNamee Berquin, all of California; seven grandchildren, and his sister-in-law, Anne Rittenhouse McNamee.

The family requests memorial donations be made to the scholarship fund at Bellarmine College Preparatory School, 960 W. Hedding St., San Jose, Calif., 95126.