In final message, Elaine Wynn recalled ‘pressure-packed’ resort opening

The Las Vegas resort and philanthropic icon responded to a text April 2, the day hotel officials honored some 1,691 Day One employees with a massive dinner party and show at Allegiant Stadium. From the stage, Wynn CEO Craig Billings offered all of those team members $10,000 in Wynn stock options.

Wynn’s death at age 82 was announced Tuesday morning by the Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation. Foundation Executive Director Punam Mathur said Wynn died peacefully after a brief illness Monday morning at her residence in Los Angeles, surrounded by loved ones.

Less than two weeks ago, Wynn said she was disappointed not to be able to make the Wynn 20th-anniversary event, saying she needed to be in L.A. for a staff member’s medical emergency. Her comments about Wynn’s anniversary, sent on the morning of the event, were intended to be used for a story closer to the April 28 date.

“The conceiving and opening of the Wynn was the most pressure-packed and demanding of all of our hotel projects,” Wynn wrote. “It was coming after the very successful Bellagio and hard to fathom a luxury property to improve on that. But that was always the goal each time we moved to finish and move forward.”

By the time Wynn opened, the executive visionaries were seasoned veterans of hotel launches.

“All of us were quite a bit older, which was good because we had great experience, but there were fewer of us because we left many of our great colleagues behind at Mirage Resorts,” Wynn said. “This was especially ambitious because we had a new program of food and beverage, celebrity chefs, higher-end retail and more intimate spaces than the Bellagio.”

As Steve Wynn’s partner in the opening of Bellagio and Mirage, Wynn said she was aware of skepticism over building a high-end resort where the Desert Inn once stood.

Related: Tributes to Las Vegas philanthropist Elaine Wynn pour in after death

“Everybody once again was doubting whether we could pull it off one more time. The irony is it was pulled off one more time, magnificently,” Wynn said. “This was especially because of the team assembled, both old and new, and the extraordinary dedication and commitment everyone made to being proprietary about this property.”

Wynn went on to say, “It has been the consummate joy of my professional life to have been associated with this one and love every single person there from Day One, and even those who just joined yesterday. They represent our brand family name in the very best way.”

Wynn asked to make sure to express her “strong sentiments” for Billings and Wynn Resorts Chief Operating Officer Brian Gullbrants. “Craig Billings and Brian Gullbrants and the entire executive team and management are the finest professionals in the gaming business. They continued to demonstrate it year after year.”

Wynn checked back in the afternoon of April 3, having followed coverage of the Allegiant Stadium party. She said, “So proud of them all.”

Wet carpets and cocktail glasses

I was among the first non-Wynn employees inside the resort the night it opened in April 2005. This was not by design. I’d arrived an hour earlier than the appointed time. Nobody around. I asked the first person I could find with a nametag where to check in.

I was shown the doors at the south porte-cochère,, which today faces Sphere. I entered, no inclination of where to go or where I should be. I quickly caught an elegantly gowned individual in the casino. Elaine Wynn, the first VIP to arrive.

I hustled in her direction and felt the “squish-squish” of wet carpeting. Wynn was walking a few paces ahead, and grabbed what was either a stray coffee mug or cocktail glass off a craps table.

Then she turned around. I wasn’t sure if she would have me sent away or just say hey. She said, “Welcome. I hope you like it, but it’s OK if you don’t.” I laughed and said, “I think I am going to be here a lot.” Which was a prophetic comment for what is still a gold-standard Las Vegas resort.

I had many chance encounters with Elaine Wynn over the years, at such fancy events as Nevada Ballet Theater’s Black & White Ball and the Keep Memory Alive Power of Love gala among them. Her table always seemed to shine extra brightly under the spotlight.

Wynn’s passion for the advancement of arts in Las Vegas was reflected in the millions she donated, and her civic activity. The development of the Las Vegas Museum of Art in Symphony Park is her crown jewel of philanthropy. She told me in September, “For me, this is a personal legacy of giving something back to my city,”

Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley had known Wynn since Berkley was a student at UNLV. The mayor shared a story Tuesday afternoon about Wynn’s visit to Berkley’s City Hall office about a month ago.

The two stood on the office’s balcony, looking out over what was once a Union Pacific rail yard.

“She showed me with extraordinary pride and love the area where the museum will be located,” Berkley said. “We both said that it would be an extraordinary addition to our community. We talked about how we both looked forward to the day that we would cut the ribbon. When I cut the ribbon to open the art museum, she will be the person that I will be thinking of, and so very grateful to.” A sentiment shared, for all time, by Las Vegas itself.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.