40 | JANUARY 21 • 2021 

of the late Alexander 
Ashendorf, who also died 
during the Holocaust. 
Contributions may be 
made to Friendship Circle, 
6892 W. Maple Road, West 
Bloomfield, MI 48322; 
or to a Jewish charity of 
one’s choice. A family 
graveside service was held at 
Workmen’s Circle Cemetery. 
Arrangements by Hebrew 
Memorial Chapel.

NANCY MAGID 
GLANZ-
MILLER, 89, of 
Hallandale Beach 
and Deerfield 
Beach, Fla., 
formerly of Windsor, 
Ontario, and Detroit, passed 
away on Jan. 7, 2021. 
She was the devoted 
mother of Ellen (the late 
Rabbi Melvin J. Glazer) 
Mossman-Glazer, Larry 
(Marlene) Glanz, Debby 
Drutz, Ronn (Philip 
Freedman) Glanz; loving 
grandmother of Matthew 
(Jes Skillman) Mossman, 
Jeremy Mossman, Devorah 
Glanz, Brooke (Shlomo) 
Peretz and Madison 
(Michael) Hallen; proud 
great-grandmother of 
David Mossman, Mitchell 
Mossman and Elazar Peret. 
She leaves many loving 
nieces, nephews, other 
relatives and friends. 
Mrs. Glanz-Miller was 
the beloved wife of the 
late David Abraham Glanz 
and the late Aaron Miller; 
cherished sister of Martin 
(Sue Beale) Magid and Ralph 
(Stevie) Magid; beloved 
daughter of the late Ann 
Magid and the late Benjamin 
Magid. 

S

heldon Adelson, 
the Jewish casino 
magnate whose 
philanthropy shaped 
American and Israeli 
politics, died Jan. 11, 2021, 
at age 87.
Adelson, the chief execu-
tive of the Las Vegas Sands 
Corporation, had an espe-
cially outsized influence 
in Las Vegas, the seat of 
his global gaming empire 
where many Jewish institu-
tions are named after him 
and his wife, Miriam.
Adelson was a megadonor 
to Republican causes who, 
in his final years, was a sup-
porter of former President 
Donald Trump but report-
edly fell out of favor with 
Trump over what Trump 
erroneously thought were the 
diminished size of his gifts, 
according to Politico. 
In one of his final big 
purchases, Adelson report-
edly paid $67 million for 
the mansion in Israel that 
was the U.S. ambassador’s 
residence until Trump 
moved the U.S. Embassy 
from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
He also was the main 
funder behind Israel Hayom, 
a free Israeli daily newspa-
per that is seen as favoring 
Israeli Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu and 
the Israeli right. Adelson 
started Israel Hayom in 2007 
to compete with Israel’s 
other dailies, which are less 
friendly to the right, and the 
paper has been considered 
instrumental to Netanyahu’s 

continued success.
Born in Boston in 1933, 
Adelson was known for 
his deep and polarizing 
involvement in local, 
national and internation-
al politics, especially his 
support for Israel and the 
Republican Party.
His aggressive approach 
resulted in conflict at times: 
In 2019, a federal judge 
ordered him to pay millions 
of dollars in fees to the 
National Jewish Democratic 
Council for using what the 
judge called “legal sadism” 
to effectively put the group 
out of business. Adelson 
was a major donor to the 
Republican Jewish Coalition.
During the coronavirus 
pandemic, Adelson also 
gained attention for being 
magnanimous to the thou-
sands of employees of his 
casinos, whom he kept 
paying long after other Las 
Vegas casinos cut off pay-
checks to their workers.
The extent of Adelson’s 

giving to causes and institu-
tions he believed in has few 
equals in American philan-
thropy. He was the largest 
donor to Trump’s 2016 pres-
idential bid, chipping in $25 
million, and was the nation’s 
largest political donor in the 
2012 election, at nearly $93 
million. 
He gave $127 million 
to Birthright Israel since 
2007 according to IRS fil-
ings cited by the Center 
for Public Integrity. And 
he was a major backer of 
the Zionist Organization 
of America and Israel’s 
Yad Vashem Holocaust 
Memorial Museum. Earlier 
in his career, he was a major 
funder of the American 
Israel Public Affairs 
Committee, until he shifted 
his giving to more conserva-
tive pro-Israel organizations.
Adelson was also a major 
supporter of drug addiction 
programs, a speciality of his 
wife Miriam, a physician. A 
drug abuse treatment clinic 
in Las Vegas is named for 
the couple.
“Sheldon was the love of 
my life,” Miriam Adelson 
said in a statement Tuesday. 
“He was my partner in 
romance, philanthropy, 
political activism and 
enterprise. 
“He was my soulmate. 
To me — as to his children, 
grandchildren, and his 
legions of friends and 
admirers, employees and 
colleagues — he is utterly 
irreplaceable.” 

Sheldon Adelson, Megadonor 
to Israel and GOP, Dies at 87

SOUL

OF BLESSED MEMORY

MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES VIA JTA

Sheldon Adelson listens to President 
Donald Trump address the Israeli 
American Council National Summit 
2019 at the Diplomat Beach Resort 
in Hollywood, Fla., Dec. 7, 2019.

JTA

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