One of the bright lights of casino design went out when Henry Michael “Bud” Conversano, passed away on September 4, 2018 at the age of 86.
Conversano grew up in Queens, New York and attended Pratt University, majoring in industrial design focusing on automobile design. After graduation he went to Detroit and worked for General Motors Company. It was not long until Conversano moved to California to become a furniture designer.
It was there when Conversano met Bill Harrah, tagging along with a lead designer. The meeting was a disaster and Harrah turned to Conversano and asked him, if he could do any better than what he was just shown. This started the long design career of Conversano. He was president for over 30 years of Henry Conversano and Associates.
Conversano was a pioneer of modern casino design. Over the years, he worked with many of the legends including Harrah, Stephen Wynn, Sol Kerzner, Kirk Kerkorian. Hugh Hefner and Donald Trump. Conversano created the majority of the designs for Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, Golden Nugget (Las Vegas and Atlantic City), Sun City South Africa, the Mirage in Las Vegas, MGM Grand Las Vegas and many more. Henry truly believed that each design he created was theatrical. He worked on Trump’s casino Trump Plaza in Atlantic City and designed his residence at Trump Tower in New York.
Conversano was a complete designer and was a mentor to two of today’s leading gaming architects Brad Friedmutter and Paul Steelman.
The New York Times called Conversano’s work what “heaven would look like if Liberace had been a decorator.”
