Nonprofit breaks ground

      Grading has begun on 2 1/2 acres in Summerlin that will be the site of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation corporate offices, which are being relocated from Tulsa, Okla.
      The 22,000-square-foot building across from TPC Summerlin is being built at a cost of $7 million by Kerzetski-Bellew & Associates Construction Co. Completion is scheduled for October or November, with occupancy to follow in January.
     

Handling shovels in a ground-breaking ceremony Wednesday for the $7 million Donald W. Reynolds Foundation headquarters in Summerlin are, from left, trustees Wes Smith, Dr. Keith Boman, Chairman Fred W. Smith, Steve Anderson and John Goolsby. Behind them are architect Marc Lemoine and general contractor Steve Bellew. The building is scheduled for completion in October. Photo by Jim Laurie.

Fred W. Smith, chairman of the foundation's board, was joined by trustees John Goolsby, Keith Boman and Wes Smith -- all of Las Vegas -- and Steve Anderson of Arkansas for a ground-breaking ceremony Wednesday.
      Anderson will move to Las Vegas to become the foundation's executive director when the building is finished. The foundation will have a staff of about 20.
      With total assets of more than $1.2 billion, the Reynolds Foundation is among the top 30 private foundations in the United States, Fred Smith said.
      It was created by Reynolds in 1954 to provide grants to nonprofit civic, charitable, cultural, educational and health organizations. Focus of the capital grants program has been narrowed to Nevada, Arkansas and Oklahoma, three states in which Reynolds had the greatest interest.
      The foundation made $93 million in grants and contributions in 1997, up from $44 million in 1996 and $34 million in 1995. The funding included: $4.5 million to KNPR-FM (Nevada Public Radio Corp.), $3.6 million to Nevada Dance Theatre in Las Vegas, $4.5 million to the Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas, $3.2 million to the Assistance League of Las Vegas, and $2.5 million to Western Nevada Community College in Carson City.
      Reynolds was known as a brilliant entrepreneur who recognized the potential for growth in small- to medium-size communications markets.
      After his graduation from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he bought his first newspaper in Massachusetts, sold it and returned to the Southwest to purchase the Okmulgee (Okla.) Daily Times and the Arkansas Southwest Times Record in 1940. He later established Donrey Media Group's headquarters in Fort Smith, Ark.
      When he died in 1993, Reynolds had built the group to 52 newspapers, including the Las Vegas Review-Journal, 10 outdoor advertising companies and six television stations. Reynolds bought the Review-Journal in 1949 when he moved to Las Vegas.
      "He was a dynamic journalist," said Fred Smith, who started working for Reynolds in 1951 as a part-time classified ad salesman in Fort Smith.
      Reynolds bequeathed most of his fortune to the foundation, bringing its assets to about $800 million.