The Board of Regents has named 10 people to be honored this year as Distinguished Nevadans.
The award is the most prestigious given to individuals who have made significant contributions to the cultural, scientific or social advancement of Nevada.
This year’s list is Joyce Anderson Bock, Jackie Brantley, Jay Coates, John and Barbara Crear, Rosemarie and Kirk Hartle, Frank McCulloch, Edward Quirk and Randolph Townsend.
Townsend served as a Nevada state senator for more than 20 years as well as serving on the Nevada Gaming Commission.
McCulloch is a graduate of the University of Nevada journalism department who was a reporter and editor at Time Magazine, Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee.
Coates is one of the state’s premier trauma surgeons and has saved numerous lives in his 16 years of practice including Roy Horn of Sigfried and Roy after he was mauled by a tiger during the team’s stage show. He was also on duty after the Oct. 1 massacre in Las Vegas.
Brantley is one of the first black people to hold an administrative management position on the Strip as advertising/public relations manager at the Desert Inn. She was also constituent services director for Gov. Kenny Guinn.
Quirk has a long list of community service contributions including president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas, the Lied Discovery Children’s Museum, UNLV Foundation Board of Trustees and UNLV Research Foundation.
Bock and her first husband Bill Anderson built the Ponderosa Ranch as a tourist attraction in Incline Village in 1962 and were named the first U.S. Ambassadors for the Travel Service and traveled the world promoting the ranch, Nevada and the United States. He’s considered a major influence in American journalism over the past half century.
The Hartles have a long history of support for UNLV and involvement in Las Vegas. She has since passed away after a long battle with cancer.
Dr. John Crear was the second black family practitioner in Las Vegas. He and Barbara became mentors and supporters for many in the Las Vegas black community dealing with the effects of a segregated society. She volunteered extensively in area schools and he later became a leading specialist in the treatment of substance abuse.