Grant Sawyer; Former Nevada Governor

Grant Sawyer, 77, who as governor of Nevada from 1958 to 1966 championed equal rights and environmental standards. A progressive Democrat in a conservative state, Sawyer forced major resort hotels to admit blacks by threatening to consider discrimination a violation of their gaming licenses. He instituted the state’s Equal Rights Commission, fashioned the Gaming Control Act of 1959 and created the state Gaming Commission, urging state regulators to “hang tough” in cleansing Nevada’s lucrative gaming industry of underworld influence. Defeated in his bid for a third term by Republican Paul Laxalt, Sawyer left public office. He continued to work for environmental concerns, including leading the fight against a federal government plan to build a nuclear waste repository in Nevada. On Monday in Las Vegas of complications after a stroke.