Yesterday we introduced you to Al Sachs, a lifelong casino operator. Today we meet his sidekick Herb Tobman, a man of many parts, as they used to say …
Sachs’ less-famous partner, Tobman, had a life that was something of a Horatio Alger story, with a bit of Mario Puzo thrown in. His first job was that of a pump jockey in a filling station and he would later work as a bellhop in the Borscht Belt, the summertime resorts that dotted the Catskill Mountains. A fellow Navy man, Tobman did his duty aboard the U.S.S. Mackenzie during World War II. That naval service got Tobman his startup capital – G.I. Bill money that the ex-sailor used to buy a gas station and a dry cleaner in New Jersey and on Long Island, respectively.
He arrived in Vegas in 1952 and would end up as a Sin City real estate millionaire. But first he liquidated his assets to finance the move, then went back to pumping gas for a living. Having scrimped enough money together to float a loan, he opened City Furniture Exchange (1955-75). During a period when the store was being rebuilt after a fire, Tobman doubled as general manager of the Moulin Rouge casino, the only integrated gambling joint in town.
Tobman amassed enough money in the furniture business to found the Western Cab Co. in 1968, growing it from one hack to – at the time of his death – 355 employees and 355 vehicles. But he felt the pull of the casino industry, joining the Aladdin in 1971 as general manager, holding similar posts at the Fremont and the Marina casino-hotels. He also helped Moe Dalitz finance the building of the Sundance. Like Sachs, Tobman went on to serve as president of the Stardust, beginning in 1974. After Sachs clashed with Rosenthal and Glick, the two men teamed up and formed Trans-Sterling Inc., the corporate umbrella for the Sundance, Fremont and eventually the Stardust.
Without any disrespect to Sachs, Tobman was arguably the more civic-minded of the duo. He put in tenure on the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, the Clark County Planning Commission, the Culinary Workers & Bartenders Pension Fund, the Southern Nevada Officials Association, the Clark County Heart Fund and the Las Vegas City Recreation Advisory Board. (He also underwrote four synagogues.) Tobman even served as chief deputy coroner for a while. Although Sheldon Adelson takes credit for seeing the potential of conventions in Las Vegas, former LVCVA head Manny Cortez gave the palm to Tobman, saying that "A lot of casino operators were mostly interested in visitors but not necessarily conventioneers. Herb understood the significance of convention business."
"He was always talking it up for Las Vegas," recalled Sen. Harry Reid, another posthumous character witness for Tobman. Each knew the other through the Horseshoe Club’s softball team, whose roster included both the entrepreneur and the future senator’s brother, Dale. Active in sports well into his life, Tobman played basketball, handball and racquetball (and had many trophies to show for it), and was a licensed pilot.
Once he and Tobman were ousted from the casino business, Sachs retired, splitting his time between Malibu and Henderson, where he died in 2002. He beat cancer twice, struggled with Parkinson’s Disease and was finally overcome by a fatal bout of pneumonia.
Tobman was a Nevada gubernatorial candidate in 1986, losing in the Democratic primary to then-Gov. Richard Bryan. His platform planks included a state lottery and harsher drug laws. (Tobman was co-founder of the WestCare drug-rehab center.) However, he waved off big-money donors, raising $90,000 in campaign funds but capping individual donations at $10. He remained in the taxicab business and also became manager of Mr. T’s Diner on Industrial Road, where he could always be found. Explained daughter Marilyn Moran, "He [opened] it as a favor and it became a fun place to be." He died in Las Vegas of a heart attack (or kidney disease – newspaper accounts differ) in 2006. "He was here all the time," Western Cab Manager Martha Sarver lamented to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "He cared about his employees and treated us like we were all part of his family."
