Thursday, July 22, 2010

Former NV Governor, Kenny Guinn Has Died

From the Las Vegas Sun: "Former Gov. Kenny Guinn, who served during Nevada’s most explosive growth, leading with a pragmatic streak and fierce determination to do what was right rather than what more partisan elements in his party thought, has died.
Guinn guided Nevada from January 1999 through the end of his second term in 2006. He died this morning in Las Vegas after a fall from a roof after suffering a possible heart attack. He was 73.
Clark County Coroner Michael Murphy said Guinn was pronounced dead at 11:07 a.m. at University Medical Center. He said an examination is expected to be completed by the end of the day Friday. An official cause of death is pending and a final determination might not be known for several weeks, he said.
Guinn, a Republican, helped push through Nevada's popular Millennium Scholarship program, which made it easier for high school graduates in this state to attend Nevada colleges."

A native of Garland, Ark., Guinn served as superintendent of the Clark County School District from 1969 through 1978, when he was named an executive of Nevada Savings and Loan. In the late 1980s he was president and chairman of PriMerit Bank.
From 1988 through 1997, he held top positions at Southwest Gas, including roles as its chairman and CEO. He also served in 1994 and 1995 as interim president of UNLV.
Guinn won the first of his two terms for governor in November 1998, defeating former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, a Democrat, with 52 percent of the vote. He then won reelection four years later, earning 68 percent of the vote in a landslide victory over Democrat Joe Neal. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jul/22/former-gov-kenny-guinn-dead/

I was not in Nevada when he served as governor, but from what I have seen ad heard, he was well liked and had the respect of almost everyone.
RIP Gov. Guinn.

2 comments:

  1. I've been here since 1998, and yeah, I think Kenny Guinn was liked fairly well by everybody. I don't remember any scandals, or even any partisan attacks on him. Maybe it's just by comparison to our present Governor that Guinn seems so much better, but there you go.

    RIP, Gov. Guinn.

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  2. Drat. I meant I've been here since 1994. Too bad Blogger doesn't have an edit feature.

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