Gerald "Jerry" Lenihan, surrounded by his large family, died on November 8, 2025, after a brief battle with cancer.
A funeral mass and celebration of life luncheon will take place on Friday, November 14th. Details are available in the "funeral info" section of this page.
Please feel free to submit your photos of Jerry in the "photos" section or fond memories to the "memory wall."
Obituary
Gerald “Jerry” Lenihan, beloved husband, brother, father, and grandfather, passed away on Nov. 8, 2025, in Las Vegas. He was born to Dennis Edward Lenihan and Bernice Trinker on March 27, 1948, in Chicago. His family came from Ireland and Bohemia to Chicago in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and although he lived in Las Vegas for many decades, he was always a Chicagoan at heart.
As a child growing up in the South Side Canaryville neighborhood, Jerry helped his parents run their dairy store. After graduating from De La Salle High School, he served in the Army as a medic during the Vietnam War. Upon discharge, he returned to Chicago where he met and married his former wife, Nancy Killeen, in 1971. Four red-headed children in four years kept him busy, as did working as a Stationary Engineer for the Chicago Public Schools. His children delighted in visiting him at work, where they could play in the gym and visit the school cat when it had kittens.
The Lenihans moved to Las Vegas in 1980. Jerry first owned and operated a landscaping business, sometimes with “help” from his kids. Later he worked at Bally’s for 20 years as a Senior Watch Day Operating Engineer with the local 501. He married Susan Ettinger, his wife of 26 years, in 1999. She was his partner in managing a rotating cast of visiting rowdy children and grandchildren.
Travels with his brother and best buddy, Denny, took him to Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, Ireland, Hawaii, and Salem, MA. Nothing got his attention faster than one of his children announcing that they were attempting to fix an electrical or plumbing problem. He would issue a quick “Don’t touch anything. I’ll be right over.” And then he would fix it. Jerry could go into any pub or bar and look like a regular, never missed an opportunity to load you up with parting gifts from his Sam’s Club shopping trips, loved his dogs (Honcho, Lucy, Kerry, Kacy, Buddy), and always knew what his many grandchildren were up to.
Jerry is survived by his wife Susan Ettinger; brother Dennis (Colleen); children Kathleen Lenihan (Daryl Wiesen) of Lexington MA, Maureen Rust (Jonathan) of Huntington Beach, CA, Brian (Kathy), Peggy Fowler (Matthew), both of Las Vegas, and *honorary daughter* Jennifer Dorsey (Daron); grandchildren Maeve, Clare, and Michael Wiesen, Owen, Molly, and Connor Lenihan, Emma, Sophie and Maggie Fowler.
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Memory & Condolences Wall
Dear Daddy,
I wanted to tell you I am proud to call you my dad. I realize that the qualities that I saw in you shaped who I was to become. Your work ethic, humor, medical inclination, outgoingness, love of animals. I will miss coming over and just chatting. Seeing how close you were to your brother made it easy to know that that was how I was always going to be with Kathleen, Maureen and Brian. I want to thank you for that.
I love you,
Peggy
Funeral Info
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