The Lincy Foundation
The Lincy Foundation is The Institute’s name sake and principle source of funding. The Lincy Foundation was formed by Mr. Kirk Kerkorian in 1989 in response to the devastating earthquake in Spitak, Armenia. Twenty-five thousand people lost their lives in the earthquake as two major cities and 100 villages were completely destroyed. The substantial contributions from the newly formed Lincy Foundation provided housing to thousands of displaced individuals and families and reconstruction of roads and other key infrastructure. During the 20 years since its founding, The Lincy Foundation has provided financial gifts to humanitarian efforts of numerous U.S. charities while continuing to provide support to Armenia. Funding of The Lincy Foundation is provided solely by Kerkorian's company, Tracinda Corporation. Both Tracinda and The Lincy Foundation are named for his daughters, Tracy and Linda.
A self-made man, Kerkorian began his business life by flying individuals from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Preceding this, he joined the Royal Air Force and delivered DH98 Mosquito bombers to England to be used in the war. This ferry command, and its important yet largely unknown role in World War II, included the secret transport of Winston Churchill to wartime meetings throughout the world during the most challenging times of WWII, has recently been honored with a film titled Flying the Secret Sky: The Story of the RAF Ferry Command. The film has won awards at a number of prestigious film festivals, including Best Feature Documentary at CinegearExpo in Los Angeles, the Golden Ace Award at the Las Vegas Film Festival, and the Special Jury Award at the Worldfest Houston Independent International Film Festival.
Kerkorian is an icon in the history of Las Vegas, having directly created tens of thousands of jobs through his business activities. Kerkorian first ventured into Las Vegas with a stake in the Dunes Hotel in 1955. He built MGM Grand in 1973, sold it and built another MGM Grand in 1993, which became the base of Tracinda. Kerkorian is the main stockholder of MGM-Mirage Resorts and Casinos, including the MGM Grand Resort, the Mirage, and the Bellagio. In addition to Tracinda's Las Vegas holdings, the company has casinos in Mississippi, and Michigan and abroad in Macao. Kerkorian is also well known for his impact on Hollywood through his prior directorship of MGM Studios (1973-2004) and United Artists.
In 2008, the UNLV Foundation inducted The Lincy Foundation into its Palladium Society to recognize contributions to the university totaling more than $1 million.