Sheldon Adelson, casino magnate who influenced policy from D.C. to Jerusalem, dies at 87 Donald Frazier Sheldon G. Adelson, a billionaire casino tycoon and free-spending political donor who helped bankroll conservative candidates in the United States and Israel, and who pushed the governments of both countries to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, died Jan. 11 in Malibu, Calif. He was 87. The cause was complications related to treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to a company statement. Mr. Adelson (pronounced ADD-ul-son), who fought his way up from an arduous childhood in Boston, was a vivid and polarizing character, a serial entrepreneur who transformed gambling in Las Vegas and Macao and brought the same bare-knuckled approach to the exercise of political influence.
Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire mogul and power broker who built a casino empire spanning from Las Vegas to China and became a singular force in politics.
Adelson was considered the nation’s most influential GOP donor over the final years of his life, at times setting records for individual contributions during a given election cycle
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“I lost a great friend and mentor with the passing of Sheldon Adelson. A great man, a true giant,” tweeted Executive Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition Matt Brooks. “The world is a better place because of him.”
The RJC also released an official statement calling Adelson “an American patriot, a dedicated defender of Israel, an extraordinary philanthropist.”
“His death leaves an empty place where a vibrant, committed and caring man once stood,” the statement reads.
“There was no greater humanitarian and devoted lover of Israel,” tweeted President of the Zionist Organization of America Morton Klein on Twitter, adding that ZOA mourns the loss of “a Giant Zionist and humanitarian.”