Merv Adelson

Mervyn Lee "Merv" Adelson (October 23, 1929 – September 8, 2015) was an American real estate developer and television producer who co-founded Lorimar Television. Adelson was born in Los Angeles on October 23, 1929 to Nathan and Pearl Adelson (née Swartz). His parents were the children of Russian immigrants who had settled in Nebraska. He worked in a grocery store run by his family as a child. In the 1950s Adelson established himself in Las Vegas where he first met Irwin Molasky and Moe Dalitz. The trio were responsible for building the Las Vegas Country Club as well as what became Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. Molasky and Adelson later opened Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in 1965. Adelson soon left the real estate industry and co-founded Lorimar Television with Molasky and Lee Rich in 1969. Adelson was married and subsequently divorced four times. His third wife was the television journalist Barbara Walters to whom he was married from 1981 until 1984. They remarried in 1986 and divorced for the second time in 1992. They met on a blind date. Adelson died in Los Angeles on September 8, 2015 from cancer, aged 85.