‘A true icon in our community’: Philanthropist Joyce Mack dies at 99

When Joyce Mack arrived in Las Vegas in 1947, the city was a small frontier town with a population under 25,000.

“My mother was a visionary. She looked at the desert and saw a city on a hill. She knew that it was going to be something special,” her daughter, Karen Mack Goldsmith, told the Las Vegas Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday evening.

Mack, a longtime philanthropist in Las Vegas, passed away at the age of 99 at her home in Newport Beach, California, on Friday.

She moved to Las Vegas at age 22 with her husband, banker Jerome Mack, who partnered with businessman E. Parry Thomas to buy the land that eventually became UNLV.

“The university was my dad and Parry’s vision, and it was my mom’s dream,” Goldsmith said.

Later, the families partnered again to donate $1 million to create the Thomas and Mack Center, which opened in 1983 as home to the university’s Runnin’ Rebels basketball team, according to a UNLV press release on Wednesday.

“She was a true icon in our community. Her passion and support for Las Vegas, and what it could become, helped lay the foundation for UNLV from our earliest days and throughout our evolution into the thriving major public research university we are today,” UNLV President Keith E. Whitfield said in the press release.

‘Part of the UNLV story’

In addition to UNLV, Goldsmith said her mother was heavily involved in Opportunity Village, a nonprofit organization that serves people in the Las Vegas community with intellectual disabilities. She was also involved with Planned Parenthood, the Smith Center and several art museums, according to Goldsmith.

Mack continued to support the university after her husband’s passing in 1998, joining the UNLV Foundation Board of Trustees in 1999.

“I can’t think of anything more rewarding than being part of the UNLV story,” Mack said in 2013 when asked by the UNLV Foundation what she found most rewarding about being a philanthropist.

Her three daughters — Goldsmith, Barbara Mack and Marilynn Mack — also serve on the UNLV Foundation Board of Trustees.

Mack also gave millions of dollars to support the William S. Boyd School of Law, establishing the school’s legal clinic, moot courtroom and a law professorship. In 2021, Boyd Law named her a Woman of Valor, according to UNLV’s press release.

On the 15th anniversary of the legal clinic, Mack said, “There is an old saying: Education is the soul of society as it passes from one generation to another. I hope all of you enjoy the university, knowing it’s the greatest gift we can give our children,” the press release said.

Adventurous spirit

Goldsmith recalled her mother often repeating that quote as she grew up. Although the Mack family had all attended UCLA, Goldsmith said her mom was committed to making UNLV a great academic institution.

“It’s this type of attitude — her unwavering belief in the good that UNLV could accomplish — that made Joyce so special. She has made a remarkable impact on the foundation, the university, and the community, and it is a privilege to count her as a part of our Rebel Family,” UNLV Foundation President Rickey N. McCurry said in the press release.

Mack was also a key funder of the Lenahan, Saltman, Thomas and Mack Professorship in UNLV’s College of Fine Arts. Her fund supports the work of artist and teacher Tim Bavington.

In addition to her civic engagement, Goldstein recalled her mother’s adventurous spirit. At age 90, she had traveled to hike in Alaska, and in the following years she traveled to France and Hawaii. Mack also went on her boat to Mexico and San Juan Island.

The family held a funeral in California on Oct. 14, though Goldmsith joked her mother “never liked going to Los Angeles.” A memorial will be held at Congregation Neir Tamid in Henderson on Nov. 3.

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com.