Irwin Molasky (February 22, 1927 – July 4, 2020) was an American real estate developer and philanthropist from

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

. He was the Chairman of The Molasky Group of Companies.

Early life

Irwin Molasky was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family on February 22, 1927 in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. Molasky moved with his family to

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...

. He served in the

United States Military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is th ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. His father ran an

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

newspaper distribution business and managed several apartments.A.D. Hoplinkas
Irwin Molasky
'' Las Vegas Review-Journal'', September 12, 1999 Molasky went to a military high school and attended college and worked during summers as a teenager. He attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and transferred to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(UCLA), but did not graduate from either institution. Instead, he worked his way up in construction.

Real estate development

Molasky moved to

in 1951. Soon after arriving he bought property and built an 18-room motel, The Pyramids. With

Moe Dalitz Morris Barney Dalitz (December 25, 1899 – August 31, 1989) was an American gangster, businessman, casino owner, and philanthropist. He was one of the major figures who shaped Las Vegas in the 20th century. He was often referred to as "Mr. Las V ...

Allard Roen Allard Roen (May 8, 1921 – August 28, 2008) was an American businessman in the hospitality industry. He was the Managing Director of the Desert Inn and the Stardust Resort and Casino in Paradise, Nevada. He was a co-founder of the Sunrise Ho ...

and

Merv Adelson Mervyn Lee Adelson (October 23, 1929 – September 8, 2015) was an American real estate developer and television producer who co-founded Lorimar Television. Early life Adelson was born to a Jewish family in Los Angeles on October 23, 1929 to Na ...

, he founded Paradise Development, a real estate development company in the 1950s.Ed Koch
Desert Inn, Stardust chief helped integrate Las Vegas Strip
'' Las Vegas Sun'', September 1, 2008 Together, they founded the Sunrise Hospital, the Boulevard Mall and the

Las Vegas Country Club The Las Vegas Country Club is a private membership club located in the Winchester area of metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada. History It was built on the site of a 1950s horse and automobile racetrack named Las Vegas Park and later the Las Vegas Park ...

. Later, they also developed the

La Costa Resort and Spa The Omni La Costa Resort & Spa is a luxury destination resort hotel opened in 1965, located in Carlsbad, California, and is owned by Omni Hotels & Resorts, based out of Dallas, Texas. The resort is located in the San Diego area hills and is known ...

in Carlsbad, California. Meanwhile, Molasky became the Chairman of The Molasky Group of Companies, a real estate development company.University of Nevada, Las Vegas: Lee Business School: Business Hall of Fame Inductee: Irwin Molasky
/ref>Nathan Adelson Hospice: Board of Trustees: Irwin Molasky
/ref>
/ref> He has built the first master-planned community, Paradise Palms and the first high-rise office building in Las Vegas, the 17-story Bank of American Plaza; and the Nathan Adelson Hospice. Additionally, he helped find the right location for the McCarran International Airport and assisted with the land purchase for the

Las Vegas Convention Center The Las Vegas Convention Center (commonly referred to as LVCC) is a convention center in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. As one of the largest convention centers in the world, it h ...

. Moreover, he built the Internal Revenue Service Headquarters in Las Vegas, the

Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify ...

building in Las Vegas, the Casa Grande Re-entry Facility for the State of Nevada Department of Corrections, and the Clark County Detention Facility. Molasky also purchased the Regency Towers high-rise condominium tower after it went into foreclosure in the 1970s. Molasky and

Steve Wynn Stephen Alan Wynn (''né'' Weinberg; born January 27, 1942) is an American real estate developer and art collector. He is known for his involvement in the American luxury casino and hotel industry. Early in his career he oversaw the construction ...

later built the Park Towers high-rise condominiums, completed in 2001. In 2007, his company completed the Molasky Corporate Center in

downtown Las Vegas Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming area was the primary gambling district of Las Vegas prior to the S ...

. It is a

green building Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planni ...

used for office space, and is the only building by Molasky to use his name.

Television production

With

and

Lee Rich Lee Rich (December 19, 1918 – May 24, 2012) was an American film and television producer, who won the 1973 Outstanding Drama Series Emmy award for ''The Waltons'' as the producer. He is also known as the co-founder and former chairman o ...

, he was a co-founder of

Lorimar Productions Lorimar Productions, Inc., later known as Lorimar Television and Lorimar Distribution, was an American production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969 until 1993, when it was folded into Warner Bros. Televisi ...

, a conglomerate of

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...

, and print companies. He also served on its board of directors. Molasky admitted in an interview with ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' that he used the company as a "tax shelter."

Equestrianism

Molasky owned racehorses with trainer Bruce Headley. One of his horses was

Kona Gold Kona Gold (March 19, 1994 – September 25, 2009) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Kona Gold was foaled at Carlos Perez's Twilite Farm outside LaGrange, Kentucky. He was sold as a yearling for $35,000 at the 1995 Keeneland Septe ...

Philanthropy

Molasky was a key figure in the development of the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

through a donation of of prime land at Flamingo Road and Maryland Parkway. He also served as the Founding Chairman of the UNLV Foundation, the fundraising arm of the university. Molasky served on the board of directors of Project REAL, a non-profit organization that teaches "principles of democracy, law and the responsibilities of citizenship" to schoolchildren in Las Vegas. The Molasky Junior High School in Las Vegas is named in his honor. Molasky was one of the founders of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas.

Personal life and death

Molasky was married to Pepie (Bookbinder) Molasky. He then married Susan (Frey) Molasky. He has three sons and a daughter, all of whom work at The Molasky Group of Companies: *Steven Molasky. *Andrew Molasky. *Alan Molasky. *Beth Molasky. Irwin & Susan Molasky Junior High School, a middle school in North Las Vegas, is named after the two Molaskys. Molasky died of natural causes on July 4, 2020, at the age of 93.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molasky, Irwin 1927 births 2020 deaths Businesspeople from St. Louis Military personnel from St. Louis People from the Las Vegas Valley American real estate businesspeople American racehorse owners and breeders University of Nevada, Las Vegas American philanthropists Jewish American philanthropists Ohio State University alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni 21st-century American Jews