Governor of Nevada from 1999 to 2007
LAS VEGAS - Former Nevada Gov.
Kenny Guinn, a two-term Republican, died Thursday after falling from the roof of his Las Vegas home while making repairs. He was 73.
The predecessor to current Gov. Jim Gibbons was pronounced dead at University Medical Center, where he was taken after the fall, Coroner Mike Murphy said. Authorities were investigating whether the death was from natural causes or an accident.
Billy Vassiliadis, a friend and spokesman for the Guinn family at the hospital, said Guinn had been on the roof making repairs. He said Guinn’s wife, Dema Guinn, found him and called 911. Police received the call just after 10:30 a.m.
Gibbons ordered flags at state buildings to be lowered to halfstaff and issued a statement saying, “On behalf of all Nevadans, I extend our deepest sympathy to his family and friends.”
Guinn, a former Clark County school superintendent and millionaire bank chairman, was a Democrat-turned-moderate Republican who served two terms as governor from 1999 to 2007.
During his tenure in Carson City, he overhauled government agency operations, revamped budgeting and tax collections, pushed for a major student scholarship program, fought federal plans to bury nuclear waste in the desert outside Las Vegas and sought to diversify Nevada’s casino-dependent economy.
Guinn was born in Garland, Ark., raised in Exeter, Calif., as the son of migrant fruit pickers. He moved to Las Vegas in 1964.
Guinn is survived by his wife, Dema, and two sons.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 07/23/2010