Sheldon Adelson, conservative megadonor and casino mogul, dies at 87

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Sheldon Adelson, a rags-to-riches casino mogul who built one of the largest fortunes in the United States and spent it aggressively to bolster conservative politicians and causes, has died at the age of 87, his wife Dr. Miriam Adelson said on Tuesday.

Since 2019, Adelson had received treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which limited his travel and hours at the office, but he continued to helm his casino empire, Las Vegas Sands Inc. (LVS). He had struggled to walk since 2001, when he was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disorder.

His wife, Miriam, said on Tuesday that he had died after complications from a long illness.

“Sheldon was the love of my life. He was my partner in romance, philanthropy, political activism and enterprise. He was my soulmate,” she wrote in a press release announcing his death.

Over the past decade, Adelson and Miriam cemented themselves as two of the largest donors to conservative politicians and causes in the U.S. In the 2012 election cycle, Adelson and Miriam reportedly spent about $150 million on Republican candidates and the conservative organizations seeking to elect them.

Sheldon Adelson headshot, as Las Vegas Sands Corporation CEO, graphic element on gray

Four years later, they gave a total of $25 million to President Donald Trump alone, earning Adelson the designation of “Trump’s Patron-in-Chief” from news outlet ProPublica. The couple made an even larger donation near the end of Trump’s re-election bid, contributing a staggering $75 million to a Super PAC affiliated with his candidacy.

Spotting profit to be made in corporate conferences, Adelson launched a lucrative computer industry trade show in Las Vegas in the late 1970s. He parlayed that success into the acquisition a decade later of the Las Vegas Sands casino, which he expanded into a multi-billion dollar hospitality and gambling conglomerate that spans two continents and includes the Venetian, one of the most iconic hotels in the world.

A modest upbringing

Adelson was born in 1933 to a modest Jewish family in Dorchester, a hardscrabble Boston neighborhood. His father, Arthur Adelson, was a taxi driver; and his mother, Sarah Adelson, ran a small knitting shop. Growing up, Sheldon Adelson supported the Democratic Party, which was “typical of the Jews of Boston in the 1930s and '40s,” Adelson later wrote.

Showing a propensity for entrepreneurship before he even attended high school, Adelson bought the right to sell newspapers on a well-trafficked street corner. Later, at age 16, he ran a candy vending machine business. All the while, he endured anti-semitic bullying from Irish kids in his neighborhood.

He enrolled at City College of New York, in Upper Manhattan, but soon dropped out. After attending trade school to become a court reporter, Adelson served as a court stenographer in the U.S. Army. When he left the service, he worked a series of jobs as an ad salesperson and real estate broker, among others.