JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Sitting down with Sheldon Adelson

By Jacob Berkman · December 17, 2009

After several years of writing about Sheldon Adelson from afar, I finally got the chance to sit face to face with the casino mogul for a wide-ranging interview Sunday at his suite at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan.

Adelson, who was in town to be honored by the Zionist Organization of America, has become something of a mythical figure over the past couple of years in the Jewish philanthropic community -- first because of the way he burst onto the scene in mid-2007.

After rising to the third spot on the Forbes 400 list, bolstered by the IPO of his Las Vegas Sands Corp. and a massive casino and resort project in Macao, China, Adelson started a foundation and began doling out huge amounts to Jewish causes -- $25 million to Birthright Israel, another $25 million to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, then $4.5 million to the Shalem Center in Israel to start the Adelson Institute, followed by $60 million in pledges for future Birthright funding.

As he gave away more and more money, word on the street was that Adelson was planning to distribute more than $200 million per year through his foundation to Jewish and Israeli causes -- that would have made it hands down the biggest Jewish foundation in the world. Adelson seemed at once brash -- reports claimed that he had his sights set on overtaking Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, the two men ahead of him on the Forbes list -- and inaccessible to the media. And though some reviled him for making his fortune on casinos, and others for his staunch right-wing policies on domestic and Israeli issues, his money also was suddenly the most coveted in the Jewish world, and Adeslon's name the hottest.

Then the economic crisis hit, the gaming industry collapsed and Adelson's stock dropped from $144 at its high to around $1. With more rumors swirling that Las Vegas Sands might file for Chapter 11, it seemed that he had disappeared.

But after speaking Sunday with Adelson, I don't think we've heard the last from his foundation. To be clear, the hoopla over the sudden arrival ofa new Jewish funding source may have produced unrealistic expectations for the foundation. At the same time, however, reports of Adelson's and his foundation's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Here's the slightly edited, slighty condensed transcript of the interview.