Former Nev. Gov. Kenny Guinn dies in Las Vegas

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"Former Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn died Thursday after falling from the roof of his home in Las Vegas, the Clark County coroner said.

Coroner Mike Murphy told The Associated Press that the cause of the accident was being investigated.

The 73-year-old Republican, the predecessor to current Gov. Jim Gibbons, was pronounced dead at University Medical Center after being taken there following the fall, according to law enforcement, school and hospital officials.

Billy Vassiliadis, spokesman for the Guinn family at the hospital, said Guinn had been on the roof making repairs.

Police responded about 11 a.m. to a report that a man had been injured in a fall at Guinn's home, and the man was transported to UMC, said Las Vegas police Officer Bill Cassell.

Guinn was a Democrat-turned-moderate Republican who served two terms as governor from 1998 to 2007."

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RIP

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"Nevada Senator Harry Reid today made the following statement on the floor of the U.S. Senate on the passing of former Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn:

"I just learned a couple of minutes ago, one of my dear friends passed away. He was an orphan, he was a stellar athlete. He came to Las Vegas to be a school teacher but he had such a dynamic personality that soon they learned in that rapidly growing school district there, which is now the fourth or fifth largest in the country, they needed his kind of leadership. So he went from being a teacher to running that huge school district in Las Vegas, Clark County School District.

"He had such a magnetic personality. Kenny Guinn was built like an athlete. He was handsome like a movie star. And he left the school district after a number of years and became a bank president. He became a big utility president at a major utility in Nevada. Then he became president of a university. I think he worked for $1 a year. He did it to be nice.

"Somebody said to him, "What you should do is run for governor." It was a slam dunk. He was a very moderate republican. He was elected governor twice very easily. He did an extremely good job as governor.

"We don't know what happened to Kenny today. But from reports we got, he was in an accident. He was on his roof and fell. He's dead now. I feel so bad about this. I talked to him a week or so ago about my campaign and his wonderful, beautiful, charming wife Dema. I just feel so sad that Kenny is not with us anymore. I join all Nevada in mourning the loss of truly a great man, one of Nevada's outstanding governors, a friend of mine who I'll always feel very strongly about."

http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=12855381

:patriot: