In this interview, Joyce Mack discusses meeting her husband, Jerry Mack, in Los Angeles,their early life as a couple, and moving to Las Vegas at the suggestion of Jerry's father, Nate Mack. She discusses how Jerry met Parry Thomas and their banking and real estate investments. Mrs. Mack talks about the opening of the Thomas and Mack Center at UNLV, and the development of the strip hotels, and discusses her children.
Joyce Mack: wife to Jerry Mack and matriarch of one of the most influential families of Las Vegas history. During this oral history conversation, she begins by tracing her family ancestry from Kiev to New York to Omaha and then Los Angeles, where she was born and raised. At a UCLA fraternity party in the early 1940s, a teenage Joyce Rosenberg was swept off her feet by her older brother's friend Jerry Mack. Jerry was from Boulder City, Nevada and had attended school in Las Vegas. In 1946, the couple married and took an extended honeymoon throughout the United States and Cuba. Soon afterwards, Jerry's father Nate Mack, a businessman and real estate developer encouraged the newlyweds to come to Las Vegas. She tells of Jerry sharing his vision of the valley's future. Thus began a successful journey that traverses decades of Las Vegas history and breathtaking growth in which the Macks were active participants and leaders. Joyce recalls the people the first met, who they raised their children side-by-side with and became lasting friends. These people were other Las Vegas pioneers including the Greenspuns and mostly importantly her husband's partnership with Parry Thomas which created the Bank of Las Vegas. It was their partnership she explains that reduced the presence of the mob element. As members of the small Jewish community of the late 1940s, the Macks would participate in the founding of Temple Beth Sholom.
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Marc Ratner moved to Las Vegas when he was in the seventh grade in 1957. His father became owner of a retail beauty supply business. It also was about the time Marc became a bar mitzvah. The Ratner family belonged to Temple Beth Sholom, as did everyone at the time, and a favorite memory he recalls is of sneaking a glimpse of crooner Eddie Fisher and actress Elizabeth Taylor getting married there. While growing up, Marc showed no particular interest in being a star athlete. He played little baseball and participated in track as a long jumper. Nevertheless, on the day of this oral history interview, Marc is sitting in his office surrounded by sports memorabilia. It is all a testimony, a museum highlighting his decades of officiating and regulating sports events. His stories include newsworthy boxing episodes that ranged from the infamous ?Fan Man? parachutist incident in 1963 during the Evander Holyfield vs Riddick Bowe fight at Caesars and the 1997 ?Bite Fight? when Mike Tyson took a bite out of Evander Holyfield?s ear. v In 2016, Marc was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, an extraordinary honor for a nonparticipant. He has long been a fan of the sport and talks about the first fight he ever attended, becoming a ring inspector in 1985 and then starting a new phase of his career in 2006, as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Ultimate Fighting Championship [UFC]. In addition, Marc has dedicated much his life blowing the whistle at high school and college sports: he?s officiated on the football field for several conferences, bowl games and mentors would-be officials. He served as Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director for two decades. Among his community involvement is serving on the board of Jewish Family Services Agency. In 1997 he was honored by the National Council of Christians and Jews. Marc Ratner moved to Las Vegas when he was in the seventh grade in 1957. His father became owner of a retail beauty supply business. It also was about the time Marc became a bar mitzvah. The Ratner family belonged to Temple Beth Sholom, as did everyone at the time, and a favorite memory he recalls is of sneaking a glimpse of crooner Eddie Fisher and actress Elizabeth Taylor getting married there. While growing up, Marc showed no particular interest in being a star athlete. He played little baseball and participated in track as a long jumper. Nevertheless, on the day of this oral history interview, Marc is sitting in his office surrounded by sports memorabilia. It is all a testimony, a museum highlighting his decades of officiating and regulating sports events. His stories include newsworthy boxing episodes that ranged from the infamous ?Fan Man? parachutist incident in 1963 during the Evander Holyfield vs Riddick Bowe fight at Caesars and the 1997 ?Bite Fight? when Mike Tyson took a bite out of Evander Holyfield?s ear. v In 2016, Marc was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, an extraordinary honor for a nonparticipant. He has long been a fan of the sport and talks about the first fight he ever attended, becoming a ring inspector in 1985 and then starting a new phase of his career in 2006, as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Ultimate Fighting Championship [UFC]. In addition, Marc has dedicated much his life blowing the whistle at high school and college sports: he?s officiated on the football field for several conferences, bowl games and mentors would-be officials. He served as Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director for two decades. Among his community involvement is serving on the board of Jewish Family Services Agency. In 1997 he was honored by the National Council of Christians and Jews. Marc Ratner moved to Las Vegas when he was in the seventh grade in 1957. His father became owner of a retail beauty supply business. It also was about the time Marc became a bar mitzvah. The Ratner family belonged to Temple Beth Sholom, as did everyone at the time, and a favorite memory he recalls is of sneaking a glimpse of crooner Eddie Fisher and actress Elizabeth Taylor getting married there. While growing up, Marc showed no particular interest in being a star athlete. He played little baseball and participated in track as a long jumper. Nevertheless, on the day of this oral history interview, Marc is sitting in his office surrounded by sports memorabilia. It is all a testimony, a museum highlighting his decades of officiating and regulating sports events. His stories include newsworthy boxing episodes that ranged from the infamous ?Fan Man? parachutist incident in 1963 during the Evander Holyfield vs Riddick Bowe fight at Caesars and the 1997 ?Bite Fight? when Mike Tyson took a bite out of Evander Holyfield?s ear. v In 2016, Marc was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, an extraordinary honor for a nonparticipant. He has long been a fan of the sport and talks about the first fight he ever attended, becoming a ring inspector in 1985 and then starting a new phase of his career in 2006, as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Ultimate Fighting Championship [UFC]. In addition, Marc has dedicated much his life blowing the whistle at high school and college sports: he?s officiated on the football field for several conferences, bowl games and mentors would-be officials. He served as Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director for two decades. Among his community involvement is serving on the board of Jewish Family Services Agency. In 1997 he was honored by the National Council of Christians and Jews.
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The Archie C. Grant Photograph Collection (1914-1968) contains black-and-white photographs of Nevada politician Archie C. Grant. The materials include photographs of Grant with the Las Vegas Housing Authority at groundbreaking ceremonies, the University of Nevada Board of Regents, and with other Nevada politicians. Materials also contain early photographs of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus, including the dedication of Maude Frazier Hall.
Archival Collection
The Archie and Zora Grant Papers document the lives of Archie and Zora Grant from 1918 to 1973. Materials include scrapbooks, clippings, correspondence, records, certificates, and awards pertaining to Archie’s career in the Nevada Legislature, the State Board of Education, Las Vegas Housing Authority, and Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.
Archival Collection
The UNLV Libraries Collection of Harrah's Entertainment Promotional Materials and Reports includes financial reports, prospectuses, joint proxy statements, annual reports, equity research, clippings, press releases, press kits, and promotional materials for Harrah's Entertainment dating from 1962 to 2009.
Archival Collection
The Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. Photograph Collection contains black-and-white and color photographic prints, negatives, postcards, and slides of William "Bill" Harrah at events in Nevada between approximately 1930 and 1991. Also included are views of Harrah’s Nevada properties including Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Hotel and Casino, Harrah’s Reno Hotel and Casino, and the Holiday Inn Hotel and Casino (that later became Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel and Casino).
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Yeon-Kyung (Mar) Chung conducted by Emilee Caivin on November 10, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Yeon-Kyung (Mar) Chung talks about her upbringing in Korea and her educational history, studying Spanish abroad in Spain and Italy before earning her graduate degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas, Austin. Mar Chung talks about her move to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1999 to enroll at the College of Southern Nevada and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to pursue pharmaceutical studies like her parents. She talks about her experience as a single mother, her path to citizenship in the United States, and the Las Vegas Asian American community. Mar Chung also reflects on differences between how she was raised compared to the upbringing of her two children.
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