Notes:
Las Vegas Review-Journal, 10 Januray 1983, page 8
Longtime LV businessman, gaming pioneer dies at 82
Harold J. Stocker, longtime businessman, gambling club pioneer
and Republican Party leader, died of heart failure Sunday at
his Bracken Avenue home. He was 82.
Born in Reading, Pa., in 1900, Stocker moved to Las Vegas
in 1910 with his family. Begining in 1920, the family ran the
Northern Club at 15 E. Fremont St. Stocker and his brothers
ran the gambling was legalized in 1931.
After the depression ended Stocker's interest in the gaming
business, he operated Nevada Silica Sand Co, in Overton from
1932 to 1940. during the time, he served a term as country
commissioners.
In 1938, Stocker began construction of the Chief Hotel court
on east Fremont Street. The structure still standing, is including
in the Las Vegas Historical Preservation Inventory. In 1948,
he began building the largest apartment complex in the state
at the time, the Desert Plaza Apartments on Maryland Parkway.
Acitve in GOP, Stocker was state party chairman during the
1950's.
A supporter of higher education in Southern Nevada, Stocker
gave personal papers on his gambling and business vertures
to the UNLV library. He also was created the Harold J. and
Mayme V. Stocker Foundation to provide UNLV scholarships in
engineering and chemistry to Clark County high school graduates.
He also supported the Home of the Good Shepherd and the Boy's
Ranch in Boulder City.
Funeral Services are pending. Memorial donations may be made
to the Stocker Library Endowment at UNLV. |
