Thursday, March 21, 2013 | 2 a.m.
Jimmy Newman, longtime gaming industry insider died Feb. 8, 2013 at the age of 87.
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A celebration of the life of longtime Las Vegas gaming executive Jimmy Newman will be 2 p.m. Saturday at Ballrooms A and B at the Las Vegas Hotel, formerly the Las Vegas Hilton. A reception will follow at 3 p.m.
Newman, who began his career as a blackjack dealer at the old Monte Carlo Club in downtown Las Vegas in 1947 and ended as a consultant for Caesars Palace in 2005, was senior vice president of gaming at the Hilton and before that was the resort’s longtime casino manager.
James “Jimmy” William Newman, who in the 1970s and early '80s oversaw the construction of lavish suites to attract high-rollers to the off-strip property, died Feb. 8 in Las Vegas at age 87.
In the late 1960s, when billionaire Kirk Kerkorian bought the Flamingo Hotel, he hired Fred Benninger to run the resort and acquired from the Sahara Hotel Alex Shoofey as president, Bill Miller as entertainment director and Newman as casino manager.
Shoofey, Miller and Newman teamed up to bring Elvis Presley in to headline Kerkorian’s International Hotel — later the Las Vegas Hilton — and sign the superstar entertainer to a long-term contract that ended with Presley’s 1977 death.
Newman is survived by his wife Bunny Newman, a son, a stepdaughter and five grandchildren.
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