This Las Vegas billionaire is giving away millions
$5,000 Welcome Bonus
This month, I have been writing a series of 'good news' articles looking at people who have been generous in giving back to their community. This includes entrepreneurs, business leaders, and entertainers.
Today, I wanted to shine the spotlight on the richest person in Las Vegas, billionaire Miriam Adelson, and her charitable giving.
Let's take a quick look at Miriam's story.
The richest person in Las Vegas
Miriam Adelson was born in 1945 in Tel Aviv, where her parents had fled from Poland just before the Holocaust. She served in the Israeli military as a medical officer before completing a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Genetics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She also earned a medical degree from the Sackler Medical School in Tel Aviv.
Miriam came to the United States in 1986 to serve as an associate physician at Rockefel er University, and it was there that she met Sheldon Adelson on a blind date. They ended up marrying in 1991. After graduating, Miriam became a doctor focusing on addiction and founded a substance abuse center and research clinic.
Sheldon was a serial entrepreneur, eventually purchasing the Sands Casino in Las Vegas, which he demolished and replaced with the Venetian. The Adelsons built a casino empire with casinos in Las Vegas, Singapore, and Macao.
In January 2021, Sheldon passed away, leaving Miriam with a billion-dollar fortune. Her net worth is an incredible $31.5 billion - which makes her the wealthiest person in Las Vegas.
And just like her husband, she is giving away a lot of her wealth.
Philanthropy
In 2000 Miriam opened a non-profit substance abuse center in Las Vegas to provide treatment to addicts. Miriam is actively involved in the Las Vegas clinic, with one report stating, "Miriam does not merely provide funding for the clinics. She is actively involved in saving the lives of patients and spends a great number of hours in the Las Vegas clinic."
Substance abuse is her focus, and she is dedicated to helping people during the ongoing opioid crisis.
“This is a segment of the population that does not cry out. They are dejected and weakened, and at my clinics we give them their lives back. In this field, with every person you save, you save another 20 people around them—their parents, their children, their siblings—even society as a whole.” Dr Miriam Adelson
In addition to her commitment to helping treat people with substance addiction, Miriam has spent a lot of her time on philanthropy- donating a lot of her fortune.
Some of her donations include:
Some of her donations are made on a more private basis.
For example, Miriam works with the Wounded Warrior Project to fly hundreds of injured American service members and their families by private plane to Las Vegas for high-roller vacations.
Your thoughts
Readers, what do you think of Miriam Adelson's philanthropy? What other organizations in Las Vegas would you like to see her support?
