Grant Sawyer

Grant Sawyer, the 21st Governor of Nevada and a longtime member of the Nevada bar, built a legal and public career that helped shape the modern state. Born in Twin Falls, Idaho, he became a Nevadan in young adulthood, earned his law degree from George Washington University in 1947, and was admitted to the Nevada bar in 1948. He began his legal career in Elko County, where he served as district attorney before entering statewide office.

Elected governor as a Democrat, Sawyer served two terms from 1959 to 1967. He championed civil rights - creating the Nevada Equal Rights Commission and pushing through the state's civil rights law at a time when minorities were barred as guests in Las Vegas resorts - and in 1959 established a state regulatory framework for gaming that became the foundation of the Nevada Gaming Commission. He took decisive action to keep organized crime out of the gaming industry, applying regulatory standards without favoritism regardless of a licensee's public prominence.

After leaving office, Sawyer returned to the practice of law and co-founded Lionel Sawyer & Collins, which grew into the largest law firm in Nevada. He remained active in local, state, and national politics, held key roles in Democratic presidential campaigns, and later took up the fight against a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. He recounted his life in public service in his memoir, 'Hang Tough.' Remembered by colleagues as a leader who brought Nevada into the modern era, he died in Las Vegas at the age of 77.