Steve Fischer
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Steve Fischer

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His Brooklyn accent never left him, even though Steve Fischer attended college at the University of Iowa, moved to Los Angeles for business, and then to Omaha later in his career. And being an entrepreneur must have been his calling, because Steve always had something going, whether it was taking orders and delivering bagels and deli food (imported from Chicago) to his Iowa City college frat and the dorms or making travel arrangements for his American Express customers to travel the world. At the U of Iowa, he met and married his wife, Jan, an English teacher. They moved to LA to join his parents with their new daughter, Melinda. Son Jon was born in LA. It was nothing to drive to Vegas over the weekend, stay in a lower-cost motel out on the highway, and gamble and see the shows. While in LA, Steve worked in sales and advertising and marketing. In 1975, the couple moved to Omaha, Jan’s hometown, to raise their family. The enterprising Fischer started writing commercials for local businesses, as part of his partnership in an ad agency. One such jingle was for the RecRoom Shoppe, seller of hot tubs, pool tables, and waterbeds. The theme, “Take a good time home today,” featured a gorilla. And guess who dressed up in the gorilla suit for local promotional events? Steve’s lifelong love of Vegas started with his parents who loved Vegas. But it wasn’t until he semi-retired in Omaha that Steve began seriously collecting Vegas memorabilia and the stories that go along with the casinos, the gambling joints, and colorful characters who shaped the place. Steve advised Vegas locals who had formed the early Mob Museum located in the Tropicana before Mayor Oscar Goodman moved the operation downtown. Driving around in a showy Cadillac with magnetic bullet holes along the side. Steve loved Vegas. His eBay listings for Vegas trinkets such as hotel keys and ashtrays generated a following of readers who just wanted to read the stories Steve had researched in writing the descriptions. Those eBay listings turned into his first book, THE ORIGINAL When the Mob Ran Vegas: Stories of Money, Mayhem, and Murder. Further stories about the glamorous showgirls he met spurred him to write the second book, More When the Mob Ran Vegas: Showgirl Stories, Sin City, Sex, Sinatra, and Suitcases Full of Money. Among the vintage photos, the rare books, the tourist magazines, casino showbills, menus, and stir sticks, Steve’s most prized possession was the lobby poster featuring Elvis appearing at the International. And of course there’s a story about Elvis in the second book. While in Vegas or presenting to a Rotary Club lunch, Steve would wear typical cliché Mob outfits, the black shirt, white tie and fedora, and hawk his book at the McCarran Airport bookstore or any bookstore. His sales pitch to casino gift shop staff included the dozen or two glazed donuts he carried in one hand and an armload of his books in the other. “Here, a little something for the breakroom. Now let me sign a copy of my book to you. How do you spell your name?” “Oh, Mary, yes, that’s M-A-R-Y, this book is for you. I’d like to get my book into your gift shop here at Caesars. Who decides which books you carry, if you don’t mind?” “Do you love Vegas? How about the Mob? My book tells all the stories.” A storyteller, a man with a laugh that just made you smile, and quick wit, maybe even a funny joke that was still funny the third time he told it. That was Steve Fischer. Impulsive. Outgoing. Delightful. And too generous. Steve cashed in his chips in 2020. Somewhere the gambling gods are smiling. Las Vegas has never been brighter.
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