Jerome D. Mack | |
---|---|
Born | November 6, 1920 Albion, Michigan |
Died |
September 26, 1998 (aged 77) Los Angeles, California |
Cause of death | cancer |
Residence | Las Vegas, Nevada |
Education |
Las Vegas High School University of California, Los Angeles |
Occupation | Banker, real estate investor, political fundraiser, philanthropist |
Political party | Democratic Party |
Spouse(s) | Joyce Rosenberg |
Children | Barbara Mack Feller Levine Karen Mack Goldsmith Marilynn Mack |
Parent(s) |
Nate Mack Jenny Solomon |
Relatives | Norman Levine (son-in-law) Russell Goldsmith (son-in-law) |
Jerome D. Mack (a.k.a. Jerry Mack) (November 6, 1920 – September 26, 1998) was an American banker, real estate investor, political fundraiser and philanthropist in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was the founder and President of the Bank of Las Vegas and, later, the Valley Bank. He was the President of the Riviera casino as well as Director of the Four Queens and Dunes casinos. He was a major fundraiser for the Nevada Democratic Party and active in Jewish philanthropy both in Las Vegas and Israel. He was one of the founders of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
Jerome D. Mack was born on November 6, 1920 in Albion, Michigan. His father, Nate Mack, was a haberdasher and later a banker. His mother was Jenny Solomon. He moved to Las Vegas with his parents in 1929, when he was nine years old.
Mack attended Boulder City Grammar School and graduated from the Las Vegas High School in 1938. He then graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. He served as a navigator in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
Mack started his career at the Bank of Las Vegas in 1954, working alongside his father. Indeed, in January 1954, his father had co-founder the bank with Walter E. Cosgriff, Bob Kaltenborn, Jake Von Tobel, Bruce Beckley, and Herb Jones, the brother of Cliff Jones. It was the first bank to lend money to casinos in Las Vegas. Its first loan was to Milton Prell, who used it to build the Sahara Casino. Fifteen years later, in 1969, the bank merged with the Valley Bank of Reno, a bank established by E. Parry Thomas, originally based in Reno. By then, Mack had replaced his father at the helm of the bank and it had changed its name to the Valley Bank of Nevada. Their bank was acquired by Bank of America for about US$380.5 million in 1992.