Edward Doumani, early partner with Steve Wynn, dies at 80

Edward Doumani, who partnered with Steve Wynn to acquire the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas five decades ago and built the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, has died.

He was 80.

Doumani died Sept. 28 after a two-year battle with ocular melanoma.

Doumani, a native of Los Angeles, relocated to Las Vegas in 1960 after earning his law degree from USC. With his father, M.K., and brother, Fred, they opened properties on what today is the north end of the Strip south of the former Rivera.

The La Concha opened in 1961 and El Morocco opened in 1964.

In the late 1960s, Doumani partnered with his brother Fred, Wynn, Jackie Gaughan and Mel Wolzinger to acquire the Golden Nugget, according to the 96-year-old Wolzinger, a director emeritus with MGM Resorts International.

Wolzinger said he first worked with Doumani when he operated the slot concession at the El Morocco.

“His word was his bound, which you don’t find very often these days,” Wolzinger said.

Doumani was an investor in the Frontier when he met Wynn, who was also an investor and slot manager, according to Doumani’s son, Lorenzo Doumani.

“Steve told my dad we ought to buy the Golden Nugget gambling hall,” Lorenzo Doumani said. “It had no rooms, and my dad convinced Steve and the rest of the board to build rooms downtown. He was instrumental in turning the Golden Nugget from a gambling hall to a full-fledged hotel.”

In the mid-1970s, he and his brother purchased the Tropicana. There, Edward Doumani designed and completely renovated the property before selling it to Ramada in 1977, according to his son.

“When he came to Vegas, it had 50,000 to 60,000 people and he believed in the promise of Vegas,” Lorenzo Doumani said. “He was an attorney by trade but decided to go into development and convinced his dad they should build a hotel.”

Doumani, who said his dad remained partners with Wynn until the early 1980s, said his dad’s interest was design and helped with the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. He interest in design began when he hired famed architect Paul Williams to design the La Concha.

David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV, said Doumani was influential in the hotel and casino industry in Las Vegas. By working with Wynn he helped “set the stage for the megaresort era,” he said.

“Working with Steve Wynn at the Nugget is significant because from that came The Mirage and everything else,” Schwartz said. “This is where Steve Wynn got his start in Las Vegas and was able to turn the Golden Nugget into a hotel. I think he used some of those lessons in building The Mirage.”

Lorenzo Doumani called his dad someone who was “very low key and mild-mannered” and who cared more about other people than himself. He also served as an executive producer backing movies made for the big screen and television.

“My dad didn’t even have a sign on the door of his office when people would be looking for the chairman of the company at the Tropicana,” Doumani said.

Doumani was married to Eleo Doumani, who died from cancer earlier this year. He is survived by their three children, Lorenzo, Dahlia Merhi and Dominique Doumani; and seven grandchildren, Sophia, Dylan and Tyler Doumani, Carina, Daniel and Kyla Merhi, and Cole Doumani.

There will be memorial celebration from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Neon Museum, 770 Las Vegas Blvd North. The museum uses the original lobby of the La Concha Motel.

The family requests donations be made in Edward’s name to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.