Billionaire Republican donor Adelson dies at 87

*Sheldon Adelson died Monday aged 87, Las Vegas Sands announced

*He was being treated for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma after first being diasgnosed  in 2019

*Adelson was the 39th richest person in the world and a major Trump donor

*Former president George W. Bush was among those paying tribute Tuesday

Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson died on Monday aged 87 afer a long illness, the company announced.

The billionaire mogul and power broker, who built a casino empire spanning from Las Vegas to China and became a singular force in domestic and international politics, was being treated for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

At one point the third richest man in the world, the casino billionaire first announced that he was being treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma back in 2019. 

His funeral will be held in Israel with a memorial service held in Las Vegas at a later date. 

Former president George W. Bush and Donald Trump Jr. led the tributes to Adelson on Tuesday both calling him ‘an American patriot’.

‘Sheldon was a true American patriot and a giant among men,’ Trump Jr. wrote in a tweet.

‘He treated his employees like family. His philanthropic generosity changed countless lives. The US-Israel relationship is stronger today because of him. My heart goes out to the Adelson family.’

‘Sheldon battled his way out of a tough Boston neighborhood to build a successful enterprise that loyally employed tens of thousands and entertained millons,’ said former President Bush.

‘He was an American patriot, a generous benefactor of charitable causes, and a strong supporter of Israel.’

A son of Jewish immigrants, Adelson was raised with two siblings in a Boston tenement, who over the second half of his life became one of the world’s richest men.

The chairman and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation brought singing gondoliers to the Las Vegas Strip and foresaw correctly that Asia would be an even bigger market.

In 2018, Forbes ranked him No. 15 in the U.S., worth an estimated $35.5 billion.

‘If you do things differently, success will follow you like a shadow,’ he said during a 2014 talk to the gambling industry in Las Vegas.

‘Much has been written and said about how Sheldon, the son of poor immigrants, rose to the pinnacle of business success on the strength of grit and genius, inspiration and integrity,’ his wife Dr Miriam D. Adelson wrote in a statement.

‘His was an all-American story of entrepreneurship. When Sheldon launched a new venture, the world looked on with anticipation.’

‘Sheldon was the love of my life. He was my partner in romance, philanthropy, political activism and enterprise. He was my soulmate,’ she added.

‘To me – as to his children, grandchildren, and his legions of friends and admirers, employees and colleagues – he is utterly irreplaceable.’

Adelson was the majority shareholder of the Las Vegas Sands, and one of the world’s biggest casino moguls.

The company owns the Venetian and Palazzo hotel and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, along with properties in Singapore and Macao.

Blunt yet secretive, Adelson resembled an old-fashioned political boss and stood apart from most American Jews, who for decades have supported Democrats by wide margins.

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.

He recently gave $75 million to a super PAC that attacked President-elect Joe Biden in the lead-up to last November’s election.

Adelson and his wife Miriam, 75, set new records for political donations in the 2020 cycle, giving a total of $218 million to President Donald Trump’s campaign and various Republican causes.

For the 2018 midterm elections, Adelson donated about $113 million to the Republican Party through various conservative political action committees.

He also owned the largest circulating newspaper in the Nevada, the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Though Adelson is not the listed publisher of the Review-Journal, the rival Las Vegas Sun recently accused him of having ‘operational control’ of the paper in a court dispute over a joint-operating agreement.

Adelson recently made news for offering his private jet to Jonathan Pollard, who spent 30 years in U.S. prison for spying for Israel.

Pollard used Adelson’s lavish private Boeing 737 to return to Israel last month, after finishing his sentence for selling classified U.S. secrets to the nation in the 1980s. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was also among those paying tribute to Adelson on Tuesday.

‘Our nation lost a remarkable American with the passing of my friend Sheldon Adelson,’ McConnell said in a statement.

‘Sheldon built an incredible life and career. He climbed from sleeping on tenement floors during the Great Depression as a young boy to literally towering over Las Vegas and beyond.’

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy called Adelson ‘one of the greatest, most generous businessmen in history’.

‘Sheldon Adelson had a deep love of country, love of community, and love of Israel,’ McCarthy added.

‘His life made him a fearless advocate for freedom and entrepreneurship and a source of counsel and support to a generation of conservatives, including me.’

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