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All are invited to join starting at 4 p.m., Friday, Jan. 30, for a tea party in celebration of Robert (Bob) Forbuss’s Birthday! Enjoy tea, light refreshments, and community.
Robert “Bob” Lee Forbuss was a gay man who enabled the Center to move into its large, renovated building on Maryland Parkway in Las Vegas. It is known as the Forbuss Building because of his work.
Forbuss helped the Center select the building, plan its renovation, and raise money for the work. The renovation groundbreaking was in 2012, five days before Forbuss died of ALS at age 64, after a two-year illness.
Forbuss was active in AIDS and LGBTQ+ causes in his career as a business executive, government official, and philanthropist. He was active in youth and cultural charities, including visiting and helping teach students at the newly opened Robert Forbuss Elementary School near the Rhodes Ranch neighborhood.
Forbuss was born on January 31, 1948, in Las Vegas to parents who worked in the casino and hospitality industry. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and he was raised by his mother and her mother in a small house in the Huntridge neighborhood, less than a mile from where the Center is now located. During this time, his mother’s family opened a dry-cleaning business within walking distance of their home, and Forbuss attended the local Catholic schools, including Bishop Gorman High School. He worked in casinos and the hospitality business during the summers.
Forbuss obtained a political science degree at age 22 from California State College, Long Beach, but returned to Las Vegas to work as an EMT technician for an ambulance company and to teach history, government and debate at Bishop Gorman High School. He was promoted at the ambulance company and became an executive. He ran for and was elected to the Clark County School Board, serving there for eight years. He was named Chairman of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and was a founding board member of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
Forbuss was not publicly gay until relatively late in life. He did publicly support local Las Vegas AIDS organizations, including Aid for AIDS and Golden Rainbow. His last political campaign was for a Regent position at the University of Nevada. Forbuss lost that election to a candidate who campaigned based on opposition to gay marriage. Newspapers reported that Forbuss’ “only regret in the campaign is that [his opponent’s] ads were negative toward the end. “He’s young. He’ll learn,” Forbuss said.” Two months after Forbuss’ death, his life was celebrated at The Smith Center in Las Vegas, including speeches by Dr. Jerry Cade, US Senator Harry Reid, Congresswoman Shelly Berkley, former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, former U.S. Senator Richard Bryan, and a performance by a student choir from Forbuss Elementary School.
Read more about Bob and his legacy here:
