Tuesday Obituary Reads

 A pair of obituaries to note:

Las Vegas billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, 87, who also owned the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, died Monday night after a battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  His wife announced the death.

He was very right-wing, but as of late he became sick and tired of Trump's antics.  Yes, he was very rigth-wing, but there was a good side to him:

Adelson also was unfailingly loyal to the thousands of people he employed.

 

After the coronavirus pandemic forced Nevada casinos to shutter in March 2020, Adelson continued providing full pay and benefits to all 10,000 Las Vegas Sands Corp. employees and the 1,200 employees working in the resorts’ 14 independently operated restaurants throughout the closure.

 

“As the son of hardworking, low-income, immigrant parents, I grew up with the same anxiety people across the nation are feeling right now,” he wrote in a New York Post column about his decision to keep paying his employees.

 

“… I recall one of the most important lessons I learned from my father. He would come home from work — when he could find work, that is — and put loose change in the family pushke (charity box). When I asked why he would give to others when we had so little, he would say, ‘There is always someone whose need is greater than ours.’”

He sounded like a closet Democrat.

I also need to note the death recently of noted baseball manager Tommy Lasorda, also known for making television commercials.  He died the other day at the age of 93.  Many of the obituaries noted his struggles when his gay son died of AIDS.  He couldn't publicly admit it.

Lasorda died of a heart attack.

Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, the Fullerton resident was with the Dodgers organization for 71 years as a player, scout, manager and front office executive.

 

"My family, my partners and I were blessed to have spent a lot of time with Tommy,'' Mark Walter, Dodgers owner/chairman, said. "He was a great ambassador for the team and baseball and a mentor to players and coaches. He always had time for an autograph and a story for his many fans and he was a good friend. he will be dearly missed.''

 

Lasorda was originally signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1945, before reaching the big leagues as a pitcher with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954.

 

Lasorda struggled to stick in the major leagues as a pitcher. He was sold to the Kansas City Athletics in 1956, traded to the New York Yankees and then sold back to the Dodgers in 1957. But he played more for the Montreal Royals of the International League, a Dodgers' minor league affiliate. He was once sent down to Montreal after the Dodgers were forced to keep a young Sandy Koufax on their roster due to the Bonus Rule. He later joked that it took Koufax -- a Hall of Famer and one the greatest pitchers in baseball history -- to keep him off the Dodger pitching staff.