Pioneer motel owner Atwell dies

If Cecil Atwell taught his son, David, nothing else about the real estate business it was to "always seize an opportunity."

In 1988, David took his dad's advice so seriously, he followed Japanese businessman Herbert Horita into a local casino men's room and, in a short time, convinced Horita to get his associate, billionaire Masao Nangaku, to buy the old Dunes hotel-casino.

"After I got Herbert interested I then had to convince the owners of the Dunes to sell, so I went to my dad and he helped me make the contacts to complete the deal," David Atwell, owner of the Las Vegas-based Resort Properties of America, said Monday. "It was the last deal he helped close before he retired."

It also was the biggest. At $157 million, the purchase of the Dunes, which has since been imploded to make room for the soon-to-open Bellagio hotel-casino on the Strip, was at the time the largest commissionable sale in the state's history.

Cecil Eugene Atwell, who during a career in real estate that spanned six decades on the East and West Coasts operated several resorts including the U.S. Motel on Boulder Highway, died Friday at Safe Harbor Hospice from complications of strokes he suffered during the last two years. He was 80.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 43 years will be 9:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Viator's Catholic Church. A graveside service will be 10:45 a.m. Friday at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City. Palm Mortuary handled the arrangements.

"My father was very casual, very low-keyed -- he did not seek publicity," David said. "He was an innovator of plotting. That's where you find land near where a gorilla (real estate jargon for a major land buyer or businessman) is looking to expand and get between him and the owner of that land to sell it."

David followed in his father's footsteps only in a much bigger way when he got Caesars Palace to buy nearby land it used for its Forum Shops at Caesars.

"But my dad and I didn't always see eye-to-eye on how to do it -- he preferred to slowly climb the ladder, while I have always tried to jump right for the top," David said.

During his career, Cecil owned not only the U.S. Motel, which still operates today, but also the Paradise Inn on Fremont Street and the Lamplight Motel on Boulder Highway.

Although he prided himself on being a sharp dresser, Cecil was never afraid to roll up his sleeves and work, often alongside his wife of 58 years, Candy, at their mom-and-pop operations.

"He would do everything from rent the rooms to fix the air conditioning system," David said. "Dad worked very hard."

Born Nov. 2, 1917, near Pittsburgh, Pa., Cecil was the son of a circuit preacher. After graduating from high school in Pittsburgh, he developed an interest in real estate and began that type of work in his home town.

On a trip to Youngstown, Ohio, in the late 1930s, he met Matilda "Candy" Lavity in an elevator and -- as Cecil so often gave as advice -- he seized an opportunity.

After learning that Candy worked as a secretary for a rival real estate company, he stole her away to work for a firm he was starting, and a romance soon developed. They married in June of 1941.

During World War II, he served in the Army as a paymaster sergeant.

After the war, the Atwells bought the Surrey Inn Resort on the Russian River in Northern California. After, a major flood destroyed it, they moved to Las Vegas in 1955.

"Dad felt if they went into the motel business in Las Vegas the drier climate would totally protect them from something like that ever happening again," David said.

In addition to their real estate and motel holdings, the family became avid bowlers. After a day's work at the U.S. Motel, they'd trek the short distance to the Showboat hotel-casino lanes to enjoy the pastime.

In 1963, when David was just 12, they made local bowling history when David won the state junior title, then teamed with Candy to win the mother-son league title and then teamed with Cecil to win the father-son league championship. Cecil and his family would win numerous other bowling titles over the years.

Cecil also was a former president of the Las Vegas Resort/Motel Association in the early 1960s and a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce board member. He was credited with establishing rules and other guidelines for the local resort business, many of which are still in use today.

In 1974, Cecil and Candy retired from the hotel business. David brokered the deals that sold their properties.

But still rather energetic, neither of them was ready to become idle. They bought and operated the Waltah Clark's Hawaiian Shops for a number of years. Later, Cecil went to work as an advisor at his son's firm which brokers hotel, casino and resort businesses.

In 1988, Cecil and Candy renewed their wedding vows during a lavish ceremony at the Las Vegas Country Club.

In addition to his wife and son, Cecil is survived by a daughter-in-law, Aletha Atwell, and four grandchildren, Heather, Aubrey, Taylor and Chelsea, all of Las Vegas.

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