Allard Roen (May 8, 1921 – August 28, 2008) was an American businessman in the hospitality industry. He was the Managing Director of the

Desert Inn The Desert Inn, also known as the D.I., was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, which operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. Designed by architect Hugh Taylor and interior design by Jac Lessman, it was the ...

and the

Stardust Resort and Casino The Stardust Resort and Casino was a casino resort located on along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The Stardust was conceived by Tony Cornero, and construction began in 1954. Cornero died in 1955, and the project was taken over by h ...

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an Unincorporated towns in Nevada, unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the ...

. He was a co-founder of the

Sunrise Hospital Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center is a for-profit hospital owned by the Hospital Corporation of America and operated by Sunrise Healthcare System. It is located in the Las Vegas Valley in Winchester, Nevada. History Sunrise was founded in 1958. I ...

The Boulevard Mall The Boulevard Mall is a single-story super-regional shopping mall located at 3528 South Maryland Parkway in Paradise, Nevada, United States (an unincorporated town in the Las Vegas Valley with a Las Vegas address). Located on , the mall has 1 ...

and the

Las Vegas Country Club The Las Vegas Country Club is a private membership club located in the Winchester area of metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada. History It was built on the site of a 1950s horse and automobile racetrack named Las Vegas Park and later the Las Vegas Pa ...

. Later, he was a co-founder and the on-site Manager of the La Costa Resort and Spa in

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is north of downtown San Diego and south of downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of ...

Biography

Early life

Roen was born on May 8, 1921, in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

.Ed Koch
Desert Inn, Stardust chief helped integrate Las Vegas Strip
''

Las Vegas Sun The ''Las Vegas Sun'' is one of the Las Vegas Valley's two daily subscription newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper published afternoons on weekdays from 1990 to 2005 and is now ...

'', September 1, 2008Steve Schmidt
A. Roen, La Costa co-owner, dies at 87
''

U-T San Diego ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'', August 31, 2008 He was awarded a baseball scholarship to attend

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business in 1943. He served as Lieutenant in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

from 1943 to 1946.

Career

Allard arrived in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Nevada, in 1949. Shortly after, he was hired by

Moe Dalitz Morris Barney Dalitz (December 25, 1899 – August 31, 1989) was an American gangster, businessman, casino owner, and philanthropist. He was one of the major figures who shaped Las Vegas in the 20th century. He was often referred to as "Mr. Las ...

to serve as the Managing Director of the Desert Inn. As such, he negotiated with labor unions and construction companies to build the casino. Shortly after it was built, in 1952, he added a golf course for guests. When Dalitz acquired the

, Roen became its Managing Director as well. In this capacity, he negotiated for the

Le Lido Le Lido is a musical theatre venue located on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France. It opened in 1946 at 78 Avenue des Champs-Élysées and moved to its current location in 1977. Until its purchase by Accor in 2021, it was known for its exoti ...

, a

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

-based cabaret company, to perform at the Desert Inn. A proponent of civil rights, he reached an agreement with the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

to allow black guests at the Desert Inn and the Stardust in 1960. Eventually, he negotiated to sell the Desert Inn to

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...

. With Moe Dalitz,

Irwin Molasky Irwin Molasky (February 22, 1927 – July 4, 2020) was an American real estate developer and philanthropist from Las Vegas, Nevada. He was the Chairman of The Molasky Group of Companies. Early life Irwin Molasky was born to a Jewish family on Fe ...

and

Merv Adelson Mervyn Lee Adelson (October 23, 1929 – September 8, 2015) was an American real estate developer and television producer who co-founded Lorimar Television. Early life Adelson was born to a Jewish family in Los Angeles on October 23, 1929 to Nat ...

, he founded Paradise Development, a real estate development company in the 1950s. Together, they founded the

and the

. Roen served as the first president of the Nevada Resort Association. He also served on the board of trustees of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. In the late 1960s, he reconvened with Molasky and Adelson to develop the La Costa Resort and Spa in

.Jeannie Sprague-Bentley, ''Carlsbad'', Arcadia Publishing, 2009, p. 11

/ref> The luxury resort had a golf course and an equestrian center. Roen served as its on-site manager from 1967 to 1987. The resort was eventually sold to Sports Shinko Co., a Japanese company, in 1987.

Personal life

He was married to Evelyn Roen. They had a son, Jeffrey, and three daughters, Judy, Priscilla, and Melissa. Roen was one of the founders of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas.

Death

He died of heart disease on August 28, 2008, in

, at the age of eighty-seven. His funeral took place at El Camino Memorial Park in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roen, Allard 1921 births 2008 deaths Businesspeople from Cleveland American people of Jewish descent Businesspeople from the Las Vegas Valley People from Carlsbad, California Fuqua School of Business alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American businesspeople