New York (CNN Business)Sheldon Adelson, the chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands, is taking a leave of absence from his positions to receive medical treatment for cancer.
Adelson “recently resumed” treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma following his March 2019 diagnosis, the casino company said in a statement Thursday. It’s unclear how long 87-year-old’s leave will last. Sands’ president and chief operating officer Robert Goldstein will temporarily replace Adelson.
Adelson, a major GOP donor, remains in control of Las Vegas Sands and Sands China. Last October, the company was reportedly mulling the sale of its Nevada properties including the Venetian and Palazzo resorts because of the pandemic’s financial impact on tourism and gambling.
He is also a friend of President Donald Trump, who also owns a resort in Las Vegas. Trump gave Adelson’s wife Miriam a Presidential Medal of Freedom award in 2018 for establishing research centers committed to fighting substance abuse.
The family also regularly donates money to Trump and Republican politicians. The couple recently poured $ 75 million into a super PAC launched in late August to aid Trump’s reelection. They also backed the president’s initial run in 2016.
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