Sheldon Adelson, who built the world’s largest empire of casinos and resort hotels in Las Vegas, Macau, Singapore and other gambling meccas, died Jan. 11 at his home in Malibu, CA. He was 87. He had built a fortune estimated by Forbes in 2019 at $35.1 billion, and used his wealth to promote right-wing political agendas in America and Israel.

In Israel, where he had a home and owned major conservative media outlets, Mr. Adelson supported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party. He opposed statehood for Palestinians, favored Israeli settlement in occupied territories, and underwrote junkets to Israel by congressional Republicans. Reportedly, he spent $67.7 million to buy the former U.S. ambassador’s residence in Tel Aviv. It was the largest amount paid for a home in Israeli history and appeared aimed at making it more difficult for future presidents to reverse the Trump administration’s move of the U.S. Embassy in Israeli to Jerusalem in 2018.

Mr. Adelson and his wife contributed hundreds of millions to medical research, education and other philanthropies in America and Israel. According to the New York Times, Mr. Adelson first visited Israel in 1988, wearing the shoes of his father, a Lithuanian-born Jew who had never made the trip.

Public relations veteran Howard Rubenstein, who for decades polished and protected the images of New York celebrities and power brokers, from George Steinbrenner to Donald Trump, has died. He was 88.

Rubenstein founded Rubenstein Associates in 1954 after dropping out of Harvard Law School. He eventually earned his law degree from St. John’s University in 1959, and took a six-month break from the PR industry to serve as assistant counsel to Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Agency clients have included Rudolph Giuliani, Ed Koch, David Dinkins, Marv Alpert, Kathy Lee Gifford, the New York Yankees, News Corporation, Columbia University, New York Philharmonic, Sarah, Duchess of York, Rupert Murdoch, Fred Trump, and the Metropolitan Opera Co.

Rubenstein was also instrumental in making the New York City Marathon one of the World Marathon Majors.

Isaac Shoshan, a Syrian-born Israeli undercover operative who had posed as an Arab early in his career, participating in bombings and an assassination attempt before making major contributions to the country’s espionage methods, died Dec. 28 in Tel Aviv. He was 96.

In a tribute on Twitter, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who once served in an Israeli intelligence unit that Mr. Shoshan helped conceive, said Mr. Shoshan had “risked his life again and again” on behalf of Israel.

Mr. Shoshan began taking part in intelligence-gathering operations after the United Nations voted in 1947 to partition Palestine into Separate Jewish and Arab states, setting off clashes that would turn into war.

Mr. Shoshan retired in 1982 but was mobilized from time to time by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to train agents and sometimes participate in operations himself.

Barbara Weisberger, who founded the Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia and transformed the troupe into a nationally acclaimed company, died Dec. 23 at home in Kingston, PA. She was 94.

Originally trained in ballet in New York and Philadelphia, she never had a career as a dancer in a professional company. Instead, she became an influential ballet teacher who played an important role in the development of regional ballet in America.

Asked over the years about her lasting allegiance to Balanchine in the Pennsylvania Ballet, she would reply, “He is the best.”

Harold N. Bornstein

Dr. Harold Bornstein, who for time was President Donald J. Trump’s personal physician and who had attested that Mr. Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,” died Dec. 15. He was 73.

Dr. Bornstein a gastroenterologist, was Mr. Trump’s personal physician from 1980 to 2017. When Mr. Trump was elected president in 2016, Dr. Bornstein had hoped to be named White House physician. But he was expelled from the Trump orbit after he disclosed to the New York Times that the president was taking medication to make his hair grow.

In 2018, Dr. Bornstein finally said publicly what many had suspected all along: that Mr. Trump himself had written the letter saying he would be the healthiest president ever. “He dictated that whole letter,” he told CNN. “I didn’t write that letter.”

Phil Spector, an American record producer, musician and songwriter known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by his trial and conviction for murder in the 2000s.

Spector developed the “wall of sound,” a music production formula he described as a Wagnerian approach to rock and roll. He is regarded as one of the most influential figures in pop music history.

In 2009, after spending three decades in semi-retirement, he was convicted for the 2003 murder of Hollywood actress Lana Clarkson and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. He died in prison on Jan. 16 at the age of 81, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Joseph Safra, a Lebanese-born financier, who became the world’s richest banker after building an international business empire in Brazil, his adopted country, has died. He was 82.

The scion of a Sephardi Jewish family, Safra was born in Beirut and was guided by his financier father, Jacob. Famous for his discretion and conservatism, Safra chaired until his death the Safra Group, a conglomerate spanning banking, property, cellulose and bananas. Forbes magazine estimated his wealth this month at $23 billion, making him the world’s 63rd richest person and its wealthiest banker, according to the Financial Times.

The Safra Group’s extensive global property portfolio includes London’s Gherkin building, one of the city’s most distinctive landmarks, 660 Madison Ave. in New York City, J. Safra Sarasin private bank in Switzerland, Safra National Bank of New York.

Known for his philanthropy, Safra donated Rodin sculptures to a São Paulo public museum, gave money to two hospitals in the city, and funded the construction of a lavish synagogue. The family’s best-known gift came via the Jacob Safra Foundation, which gave Albert Einstein’s original manuscript on the theory of relativity to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.