‘Everyone was her friend’: Former RJ employee Bonnie Brown dies at 67

For more than 17 years, Bonnie Brown was the first person to meet and greet a new employee at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Brown worked as the paper’s human resources assistant from December 2003 until her retirement in July 2021.

Former colleagues described Brown as extremely caring and very involved with volunteering. She also had a “smile that lit up the room,” a contagious laugh and a deep love for her children, colleagues said.

Brown died last week at age 67. She is survived by her three children, Lauren Clancy, Justin Tatina and Jessica Tatina.

Jessica Tatina remembered her mom as “super sweet, super spunky, fun” and with a great spirit and personality.

“She was just a very caring, compassionate person as well. She was always willing to listen to you if you needed someone to talk to, anybody really,” Tatina said about her mom.

She and Brown moved to Las Vegas together in 2001 for a change of scenery from the Chicago suburbs they lived at before. Tatina said she and her mom loved to go hiking together, especially at Springs Preserve.

She also recalled that her mom enjoyed playing billiards and was good enough to play in a league.

Current and former employees have sent messages of support via email and social media after learning of Brown’s death, said Kim Taormina, the Review-Journal’s current human resources director. Most, she said, talked about what a great person Brown was and how much they will miss her.

“She just made people happy,” Taormina said. “Sometimes you had to come in (to the human resources office) for not-so-good things, and she was always easy to talk to and just made people feel comfortable.”

Former Review-Journal director of digital media Harrison Keely said Brown cried when he left the newspaper, the only person at the office he remembered doing so.

“Not many folks can say they felt loved by Human Resources, but I know I sure did,” Keely wrote in an email.

Former human resources director Cindy Myers, who hired Brown in 2003, said Brown loved every minute of her job and always gave her full effort at work.

“Bonnie was the first person our employees came in contact with. She was the person we trusted to meet and greet our employees, and she did an amazing job,” Myers said. “She was also my little wingman when I was having issues with people.”

Myers said she trusted Brown to help out with difficult interactions with employees.

Brown volunteered “with anything and everything that the Review-Journal was involved with,” Myers said, noting in particular reading to schoolchildren and working with the nearby Wendell P. Williams Elementary School.

Taormina called her “our ambassador person for the school,” because of how often she volunteered there. Jessica Tatina said her mom also volunteered at Adam’s Place, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people work through grief.

Tatina said her mother’s love for charity extended beyond charity, and recalled that Brown regularly carried care packages in her car to give to homeless people during the holiday season. Once, she said, Brown noticed a homeless man at a nearby booth when she and Tatina were eating at a Denny’s during the Christmas season. Brown went out to her car and brought the man one of her care packages.

Brown’s holiday spirit also showed itself at work, as she also enjoyed helping decorate the Review-Journal for the holidays, especially for Halloween and Christmas, Myers said.

“She really cared about all the employees,” Taormina said of Brown. “Everyone was her friend.”

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Lauren Clancy’s last name.

Contact Mark Credico at mcredico@reviewjournal.com.