Wednesday, April 28, 1999 | 11:10 a.m.
Sheldon Adelson flies by private jet and often travels with bodyguards, but he's hardly a socialite.
Still, he attends his fair share of black-tie affairs for charities such as Jewish community organizations, the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation and Alzheimer's disease research. As a philanthropist, he gives both money and his Sands Expo & Convention Center to needy causes.
He also doesn't think twice before performing favors for people he likes. Bob Hlusak of Treadway Industries, which is creating artwork for the Venetian, said he met his wife in Venice, Italy, while doing research for the hotel but ran into immigration problems trying to get her into this country. He said Adelson called Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., and got the immigration problems resolved.
"That's the side, the little personal stuff, that you don't get to see," Hlusak said.
Adelson has donated space in the Sands Expo for such causes as the annual SOS Taste of the Nation benefit for hunger relief, and the Salute to Seniors convention hosted by the local chapter of B'Nai B'rith. Adelson and wife Miriam were given the 1997 Salute to Seniors community service award.
Salute to Seniors chairman B.J. "Burt" Black said his organization approached Adelson after running into scheduling problems with the Cashman Field Center, which housed the event previously. Black appreciated Adelson's generosity but said he didn't care much for the Venetian owner's attempts to shake up the local political scene.
"When he's generous, he's as good as they come," Black said. "When he's difficult, he's as difficult as they come. He's very hard to read sometimes."
Another group touched by Adelson's generosity was The Hundred Club of Clark County, which was formed to raise money for the families of public safety employees who lost their lives in the line of duty. Adelson is the only Strip executive who has contributed to this group, which has struggled to survive, said board member Frank Strocchia of Las Vegas.
"He's got a reputation that he's a lot of things, but he's a very, very charitable person," Strocchia said. "If the community is in need, he'd be the first person in line."
Adelson also has announced that he would sponsor a scholarship program for Hispanic students in hotel administration.
"For the first time in the history of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, a precedent has been set by a casino owner to step up and make a firm commitment," Latin Chamber President Rose Dominguez said last fall. "Mr. Adelson has put his money where his mouth is and is supporting the higher education of the community."
A member of the conservative branch of Judaism, Adelson is one of the top donors to Jewish organizations in Southern Nevada and is a major financial contributor to Israel. Conservative Jews embrace modern culture in areas such as dress and education but observe religious traditions such as Torah rituals, dietary laws and the Sabbath.
Ronni Epstein, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, said Adelson is an active board member and one of the group's top five contributors. She noted that Adelson has often made the Sands Expo available at no charge for charitable Jewish events, such as last year's 50th anniversary celebration of Israel.
"He is a person who cares about helping people who are less fortunate," Epstein said. "He grew up in a poor family. He's one of the few people who makes a lot of money who doesn't forget where he came from. If I had a hundred Sheldon Adelsons in town, we'd have the finest Jewish community in the United States."
Miriam, his second wife whom he met on a blind date, is an Israeli-born physician who is planning to open a non-profit drug treatment clinic in Las Vegas similar to one she already runs in her native country.
When they were married in Israel in 1991, a festive lunch was held in their honor in Chagall Hall of the Knesset, that country's parliamentary building in Jerusalem. The event was attended by several Israeli cabinet ministers, including then-deputy foreign minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is now prime minister and an Adelson friend.
The Jerusalem Post named Adelson as one of four American Jews who contributed at least six figures to Netanyahu's successful 1996 campaign for prime minister representing the right-wing Likud Party.
Netanyahu was quoted by the Wall Street Journal in 1997 as holding Adelson in "the highest regard" and as someone who "was one of the first to recognize the potential of the Israeli economy." Israeli Finance Minister Yaakov Ne'eman had previously worked as an attorney for Adelson.
An example of Adelson's financial support for Israel occurred in 1989, when he was one of three Americans who contributed a combined $500,000 for a new helicopter training program facility at the Hatzerim Air Force Base near Beersheba.
Adelson, who frequently shuttles by private jet between homes in Las Vegas, Boston and Israel, also has been trying to lobby Israeli officials to legalize gambling and open a casino in Eilat. He already has been involved in other businesses there, such as movie theaters and an auto-parts store.
He also is outspoken on the subject of anti-Semitism, which he said he experienced while growing up in Boston. He was one of the founders of the Las Vegas chapter of the Anti-Defamation League. In 1988 he told the Sun he was upset with Imperial Palace owner Ralph Engelstad because the latter kept Nazi memorabilia at his hotel.
"I think the community should be outraged and Engelstad should be ashamed of himself," Adelson said then. "He should just pack up his bag and leave town."
Engelstad later publicly apologized for the memorabilia, paid a $1.5 million fine levied by the Nevada Gaming Commission in 1989, and removed the offensive items from his hotel.
Adelson created his own stir in 1993, however, because of remarks he made about Native Americans in a Boston Globe interview. When Adelson suggested that future gaming licenses in Massachusetts go first to individuals such as himself with roots in that state, the interviewer noted that Indians predated him.
"The Indians do predate us," Adelson said. "But I'm Jewish, and we have been discriminated against a lot longer than the Indians have been. The Indians have no more right than any other minority group to petition the governor for a special privilege.
"They have no experience running casinos and because they are a sovereign nation their tax contribution to the state is less than mine. They are not even citizens of the state. So why should they get preference?
"They are drunk with dreams, and they don't know what they're talking about. They are greedy, uninformed, uneducated and they think they should have more rights than anyone else. That's OK. There's no law against being greedy. But it's wrong to think you have more privilege than someone else and then go hire the blue-suede-shoe guys to run their casinos for you."
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, Mass., immediately criticized Adelson, calling the remarks hurtful. They also said it was a case of sour grapes because one of Adelson's companies, the Interface Group of Needham, Mass., had lost out to a competitor hired to be the manager of the tribe's proposed casino. The tribe issued a statement that "we find ourselves still fighting racism and prejudice."
Adelson immediately apologized in a statement also published by the Globe.
"These statements, attributed to me as part of a two-hour interview, have been reported out of the context in which they were given and do not reflect my views or values of the issues discussed," he said. "I fully reject the unfair stereotypes and characterizations these remarks may have communicated."
THURSDAY: A look at Adelson's career in the gaming industry and a tour of his newest jewel, the Venetian hotel-casino.
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