Friday, June 2, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.
Estelle "Estie" Rousso, a member of a pioneering Las Vegas family that founded a small department store that grew into the upscale Marshall-Rousso chain, died Saturday at her home in Marina Del Rey, Calif. She was 79.
The cause was a heart attack, her family said.
Rousso was the wife of Herb Rousso, and the second of three daughters of Abe and Sara Saltzman, who founded Sara's on Las Vegas Boulevard in 1955.
Herb Rousso and Art Marshall, who married Estelle Rousso's sister Jayn, took over Sara's and built it into a chain of 60 stores in such places as Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Today the business is run by Todd Marshall, Art and Jayn's son.
"Estie had a magnetism - when she walked into a room she lit it up," said her niece Cari Marshall. "She was young at heart and did everything with her husband, from ice skating to traveling. She loved to dance and sing. She was very open-minded and progressive."
The Roussos maintained residences in Las Vegas and Catalina Island.
Cari Marshall said both her mother and aunt played significant roles in the beginning of the Marshall-Rousso business.
"They would go on buying trips with their husbands and had an influence on the purchase of some of the merchandise for the store," she said. "They took a very active interest in the very beginning, then raised their families."
Born April 15, 1927, in Cleveland, Estelle Saltzman moved to Las Vegas with her family when she was 18. In 1947, she married Herb Rousso, who retired from the retail business in 1986 so the couple could spend more time with their children and grandchildren.
Estelle Rousso was a strong supporter of the Jewish Federation, and taught meditation classes for a while, her family said.
In addition to her husband, Herb, and sister Jayn, she is survived by another sister, Malvene Rowe of Las Vegas; son Jeff Rousso of Marina Del Rey; daughter Anastasha Rousso of Santa Barbara, Calif.; and four grandchildren.
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