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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home JANUARY 14, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Sheldon Adelson
From Boston to Billionaire BY SUSAN SCHWAMM
It’s
perhaps not an exaggeration to say that Sheldon Adelson, who passed away this week at the age of 87, had helped to stem the tide of intermarriage in the Jewish world. Adelson and his wife, Miriam, were the primary backers of Birthright trips to Israel. For many Jewish non-affiliated teens, the free trip to Israel was their only connection to the Holy Land and its people. For many, it awakened in them a desire to connect back to their roots – or at least, not to throw away their esteemed heritage. FROM CABS TO CASINOS Adelson started out from humble beginnings. His father, Arthur, drove a cab in Dorchester, Massachusetts; his mother worked in a knitting store. Sheldon became an entrepreneur at a young age when he borrowed money from his uncle to obtain a license to sell newspapers in Boston. He was 12 years old. Since that endeavor, for 75 years, Adelson made his name in business,
using his keen eye to turn what some saw as dust into gold. His gilded hands lit up Las Vegas and Asian cosmopolitan cities with his casinos, and he turned business conventions into a rewarding, profitable industry. “If you do things differently, suc-
At 55, Adelson started in the casino business. He was the first to build a convention hall in his Sands casino in 1989 – a move that other owners replicated – when he purchased it for $128 million. The convention hall would keep rooms full during the
“If you do things differently, success will follow you like a shadow.” cess will follow you like a shadow,” Adelson said during a 2014 talk to the gambling industry in Las Vegas. Adelson never graduated college, dropping out of City College of New York before graduation and serving in the Army. After a series of starting small businesses, Adelson hit his stride in the ‘80s with a technology trade show, starting computer convention COMDEX in 1979 before selling his stake in 1995 for more than $800 million.
week, filling the casino’s coffers with patrons and roulette players Monday through Thursday. Adelson expanded his enterprise into Asia, bringing casino gambling to Macao, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal. A lack of land didn’t present a problem to the entrepreneur. He built land there by piling up sand to create the Cotai Peninsula. Rapidly, Adelson’s Macao’s casino revenue outstripped profits from his Las Vegas holdings.
His success in Macao led him to expand to Singapore, where his Marina Bay Sands hotel and its infinity pool became a signature of the skyline.
GOING POLITICAL It wasn’t just slot machines and roulette where Adelson made his mark. Adelson poured money into politics as well, donating with record-breaking funds to politicians and parties he aligned with. As such, Adelson had a number of domestic and international leaders who listened to his advocacy. President Trump, in particular, was the recipient of sums of Adelson’s money. Adelson donated $25 million for Trump’s benefit in 2016 and another $75 million in 2020. In fact, Sheldon and his wife, Miriam, sat front and center at Trump’s inauguration four years ago. In 2018, President Trump honored Miriam Adelson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “To protect the sacred heritage of the Jewish faith, Miriam and Shel-
