United States: Sheldon Adelson, casino mogul and Trump supporter, dead
Billionaire Sheldon Adelson alongside Donald Trump on December 7, 2019. AP - Patrick Semansky
Text by: Agnieszka Kumor
3 min
Las Vegas casino mogul and philanthropist Sheldon Adelson has died of cancer at the age of 87.
A financial pillar of the Republican Party, he was a staunch supporter of Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, but also one of the wealthiest people in the United States.
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One who was considered a kingmaker in politics, was born in 1933 to a family of immigrants in Boston.
His father, of Jewish origin from Ukraine and Lithuania, was a taxi driver.
Her mother, owner of a knitting workshop, had immigrated from England.
At 12, Sheldon Adelson borrowed $ 200 from his uncle to buy a license to sell newspapers in Boston.
Four years later, he launched a candy distributor business.
In total, he created around fifty companies, which earned him the nickname “serial entrepreneur”.
His rise in business will be meteoric.
Loan broker, investment advisor, he quickly earns his first million.
Last year, he was ranked 28th among billionaires,
according to
Forbes
magazine
.
A taste for risk in business
Insensitive to risks, gifted in business, described by some as a visionary, Adelson will notably create the world's leading IT show.
But it was in Las Vegas that he established his empire.
His vision is these luxurious hotel complexes integrating casinos and restaurants, like the Venitian, built for 1.5 billion dollars and which copies the buildings and canals of Venice.
Today, his group Las Vegas Sands still owns on the famous Las Vegas Strip, The Venitian, a huge skyscraper, but also The Palazzo.
With this extension, the Venetian / Palazzo complex became the largest hotel in the world in early 2008 with more than 7,000 rooms.
Kingsmaker
The $ 35 billion man has largely contributed to the financing of the Republican Party and has become a pillar of Donald Trump to whom he offered a total of $ 220 million for the last election campaign.
The two men defend the same causes, and in particular the relocation of
the American embassy to Jerusalem
.
"He
was an American patriot, a generous benefactor of charitable causes, in particular medical research and education in Jewish heritage, and a fervent supporter of Israel,
" notably reacted former President George W. Bush in a communicated.
In Israel, it was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who benefited from his generosity through the free daily
Israel Hayom
, an assumed
backer
of the government, which has become one of the most popular newspapers in the country.
“
He was a wonderful friend to us personally and an incredible champion of the Jewish people, the Jewish state and the alliance between Israel and America,
” Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
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