Sunday, January 11, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LAS VEGAS NATIVE: Jurist Myron Leavitt dies at 73

Friends and political leaders recall dedicated family man, longtime public servant

Myron Leavitt Judge underwent kidney transplant Nov. 17 Judge Myron Leavitt presides at a trial in this Aug. 11, 1998, photo. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Supreme Court Justice Myron Leavitt, a father of 11 who held numerous elected positions in a long political career, died in Las Vegas late Friday night. He was 73.

Leavitt underwent a kidney transplant Nov. 17 at University Medical Center and had been recovering well at his Las Vegas home until last week. His health deteriorated rapidly late in the week after he had gone into the hospital for a routine kidney test.

The cause of death is not yet known, although family members do not think the death was related to the kidney transplant.

Most members of his family, including Shirley, his wife of 49 years, were at his bedside when Leavitt died at UMC at 10 p.m. Friday.

"He was doing so well, that's why I think it's so shocking," said his daughter, District Judge Michelle Leavitt.

A Las Vegas native, Myron Leavitt had served on the state's highest court since 1998 after a 14-year career as a district judge. His career also included stints as justice of the peace, Las Vegas city councilman, county commissioner and lieutenant governor.

"His legacy will be his dedication to public service and how much he loved this community and how much he loved Nevada," Michelle Leavitt said.

When Myron Leavitt campaigned for statewide office, he piled his family into a 15-seat van and crisscrossed the state, driving town to town, walking door to door.

On those trips, Michelle Leavitt recalled, her father would quiz the children on the county seats and make them sing one of his favorite songs, "Home Means Nevada."

His grandchildren will sing the state song at his funeral.

Services will be at noon Wednesday at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4040 E. Wyoming Ave., near Charleston and Lamb boulevards. Palm Mortuaries is conducting arrangements.

Political leaders and friends praised Leavitt on Saturday.

"I have known Myron Leavitt for nearly 40 years, and he has been a role model as a family man and someone who blazed a path in public service that anyone would be proud of," Gov. Kenny Guinn said. "While the Supreme Court will miss his wit and wisdom, I will miss his friendship and great sense of humor."

Leavitt and Guinn coached opposing Pop Warner football teams in Las Vegas during the 1960s.

Guinn now must pick a replacement for Leavitt. The Commission on Judicial Selection will interview applicants in coming months and recommend three people.

Guinn then will select one of those three people to fill the seat until the November election. The seat will be on the ballot, and the winner of that race will serve the final two years of Leavitt's term.

There was speculation Saturday that former Supreme Court Justice Cliff Young might be induced to return to the court for the rest of the year. Young is a senior justice who still handles some Supreme Court cases.

Last year, doctors told Leavitt that his kidneys were failing and that he needed a transplant. His 35-year-old son, Las Vegas attorney Jim Leavitt, provided the kidney, and UMC doctors completed the transplant Nov. 17.

Before the surgery, Myron Leavitt was optimistic about returning to work with Nevada's high court.

"I've got a few more years on my term," he said. "We'll have to decide what we're going to do at that point. I have to decide in the next couple years what I want to do. But I enjoy what I'm doing now."

After the surgery, Myron Leavitt recovered better than his family expected. He was walking on a treadmill and studying for the upcoming Supreme Court session, Michelle Leavitt said.

He started feeling ill early last week, went into the hospital Monday and died four days later.

"Myron had a beautiful way about him," Supreme Court Justice Deborah Agosti said Saturday. "He was my best friend on the court. He was so kind and patient. You don't raise 11 kids without learning something about patience, kindness and human understanding."

Agosti said she was gratified to see a friendship develop on the court between Leavitt and Justice Bob Rose. Rose and Leavitt opposed each other in bitter campaigns for the Supreme Court in 1988 and 1994. Leavitt narrowly lost both races, but then was elected in 1998 when the court was expanded to seven members.

"I credit them both for the reconciliation," she said.

Leavitt was born in 1930 in Las Vegas. He graduated in 1948 from Las Vegas High School, where he was editor of the school newspaper and won the state championship in the 100- and 220-yard dashes. He would forever boast that he was the "fastest man in the state," Michelle Leavitt said.

His athletic prowess earned him a scholarship to the University of Nevada, Reno. He ran track, played halfback on the football team and majored in journalism.

He graduated in 1952 and returned to Las Vegas as sports editor of the Review-Journal. His journalism career lasted only 14 months.

With the encouragement of his brother, Edwin, a lawyer, Leavitt enrolled in law school at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The move was a milestone for the Leavitt clan.

Not only did Leavitt earn the law degree that would provide the foundation for his future career, he also met his future wife, who was his landlord's daughter.

They married June 10, 1954.

The couple moved to Southern Nevada, and Leavitt got a job as a deputy city attorney in North Las Vegas.

His political career began in 1961 when he was elected as a Las Vegas justice of the peace. The following year he lost an election bid for district attorney, but the 32-year-old lawyer continued pursuit of elected office with a 1963 run for Las Vegas mayor.

He lost that election, too, but as he said to the Review-Journal after becoming lieutenant governor in 1978, politics is "kind of like a fever in the blood. I've been stricken by the fever. The only cure is defeat in the polls."

In 1970 he ran for a seat on the County Commission and won, following in the footsteps of his father, Mike Leavitt, who served on the commission from 1944 to 1948.

Myron Leavitt's stay on the County Commission lasted one term before he ran for the state's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974. He filed for office on what he called his lucky day, June 10, his wedding anniversary.

But luck did not help him in the Democratic primary, which he lost to Jim Santini.

The next year, Leavitt overwhelmingly defeated an incumbent Las Vegas councilman.

After four years in that post, Leavitt set his sights on his first statewide office with a run for lieutenant governor. After winning, he hinted to a Review-Journal reporter that he had his eyes on a bigger prize.

"It is difficult to say what lies in the future," he said, before admitting he "always wanted to be governor."

During his time as lieutenant governor, Leavitt cast tie-breaking votes in state Senate to keep capital punishment on the books and to put the Legislature on record as opposing abortion.

He sparked controversy in 1981 when he proposed ending a gay rodeo in Reno, saying "queers" should not be allowed to use public property and damage the state's image.

In 1982 he campaigned for the state's highest office but lost in the gubernatorial primary. As he ended his term as lieutenant governor later that year, he told the Review-Journal he would be back.

"I don't consider myself washed up," he said. "I've lost before and I've come back and won. One thing I've learned in politics is never say never."

Two years later Gov. Richard Bryan, whom Leavitt had criticized during the gubernatorial race, appointed him to the District Court bench.

He spent 14 years as a district judge in Clark County, repeatedly ranking as one of the top judges in a survey conducted by the Clark County Bar Association and the Review-Journal. He was elected to the Supreme Court in 1998 and 2000.

"He was truly an honorable man," said Shonie Marqie, a longtime friend and political consultant to Leavitt. "How do you raise 11 perfect children? He did."

His survivors include his wife, Shirley; and children Dennis, a Las Vegas lawyer; Steve, a craps dealer at Bellagio; Kathy Wright, a high school math teacher in Reno; Cindy Foote, a homemaker in Reno; Debbie Earl, a Las Vegas lawyer; Tom, a hotel management executive in Las Vegas; Andy, a Las Vegas lawyer; Sue Abbatangelo, a Las Vegas homeowner; Delbert, a landscaping company owner in Las Vegas; Jim; and Michelle. He also had 34 grandchildren.

"He really was a great dad," Michelle Leavitt said. "I can't think of any man I admire more."

Review-Journal Capital Bureau writer Ed Vogel contributed to this report from Carson City.