It was only a twist of timing that George Dickerson was born in San Francisco and not in Nevada, the place to which he would contribute so much and love so well. He spent a long life in public service and the legal profession in the Silver State demonstrating that unwavering affection without compromising his character.

That’s no mean feat in Nevada, a land laden with endless distractions and seductions. But whether as Clark County district attorney in the roaring 1950s, or serving on the Nevada Gaming Commission a decade later at the dawn of the corporate casino era, Dickerson remained true to his family upbringing and legal calling.

Dickerson died Feb. 15 in Brewer, Maine, at the home of daughter Diane Dickerson with wife of 70 years, Doree, near his side. He was 96. A memorial service is pending.

He was born on Feb. 12, 1923, the youngest of Una and Denver S. Dickerson’s eight children. The elder Dickerson is best remembered as Nevada’s youngest governor. Rising at age 36 from lieutenant governor in 1908 following the death of John Sparks, he was later appointed warden of Nevada State Prison and went on to an official position within the federal prison system. It was in that capacity that Denver Dickerson and his pregnant wife took a business trip to San Francisco, where George was born.

The boy would barely know his famous father. He would attribute his world view and the molding of his character to the tireless devotion of his mother, who raised eight children alone after Denver Dickerson’s death in 1925. She worked for 27 years as a law librarian at the Washoe County Courthouse to provide for the family. She became a valuable resource for lawyers and stressed the importance of education to her children. The former Una Reilly was more than up to the task. Born in Hamilton, a mining town in White Pine County, she taught school in the isolated outpost of Cherry Creek -- as a teen-ager.

“He worshipped her,” Diane Dickerson said. “He believed that everything he became as a man, as a person, is a representation of the way his mother raised him and his siblings after his father’s death at such a young age.”

In an eight-page letter written to his family late in his life, George Dickerson placed that influence in perspective: “You all are the beneficiaries of my mother’s loving care, devotion, dedication, servitude, independence, opportunity and commitment to self-betterment. It’s in your genes. What an exquisite legacy.”

Oldest brother Harvey Dickerson led the way, eventually serving three terms as attorney general. Brother Denver climbed through the Legislature to become speaker of the Assembly and later was appointed Secretary of Guam by President John F. Kennedy.

Little brother George attended the University of Nevada and the University of California, Hastings College of Law. It was there he found a legal education and the love of his life.

George and Doree were married in 1949 and moved to Las Vegas, a place they’d call home for seven decades. After passing the state bar exam, Dickerson worked for four years as a deputy district attorney before running successfully for district attorney in 1954, prevailing in the primary over a well-liked local lawyer named Oscar Bryan.

Bryan’s son, future Gov. and U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, didn’t hold a grudge. On the contrary.

 “George was the gold standard for professionalism and ethics,” said an admiring Bryan, himself one of the most popular elected officials in state history.

Dickerson spent four years raising the standards of the DA’s office, part of that time shuttering outlaw brothels. Most notorious among the dens: Roxie’s at Four Mile on the Boulder Highway, an off-the-record hangout for players and politicians operated by Roxie and Eddie Clippinger and protected by the sheriff. The closure branded Dickerson as a square guy, and that was just fine with him.

Through the years he developed a reputation for toughness in the courtroom tempered by high ethical standards. Where other attorneys often relied on associates and assistants, Dickerson did his own research and writing. Those who knew him well in the legal arena saw an attorney who was a consummate professional and fierce advocate.

“George Dickerson was a good trial lawyer because he was always well prepared and had fire in his belly for his client,” legendary Nevada lawyer and Democratic Party insider Ralph Denton observed in his oral history “A Liberal Conscience.” “You’re not trying to make friends. George was a good speaker, but I was always most impressed with his thoroughness -- and fire.”

When Gov. Paul Laxalt went searching for someone with a strength of character capable of withstanding the rigors and intrigues of the casino industry of the latter 1960s, he found the right man in Dickerson. True to his nature, Dickerson resigned when he couldn’t abide the state’s rush toward allowing publicly traded corporations to take over the industry without what he considered sufficient scrutiny.

“He thought it was a bad idea, and he quit -- that was George,” longtime casino owner Michael Gaughan recalled. “He did what he thought was right, always. You couldn’t get to George. The problem with George was, he was an honest guy.”

And trusted, too.

“If you’re going to talk about the room where it happens, George Dickerson spent a lot of years in the room where Nevada happens,” UNLV history professor and author Michael Green said. “He was an important part of the legal profession. He was important politically, and as chairman of the gaming commission he was part of that group of regulators who either wouldn’t let some mobsters in, drove some mobsters out, and made sure the ones who were here behaved themselves.”

While others who served on the commission found no shortage of future clients from the gambling crowd, casino man Gaughan would become Dickerson’s only major industry client. They remained friends more than half a century through numerous difficult and complex cases.

“George was an incredibly ethical guy,” Gaughan said. “I’d get upset with him because he didn’t charge me enough. I’d say, ‘George, they’re going to disbar you.’ He never overcharged. He never ran up bills. He did his own research, and he was never not prepared. Every case he handled for me he won.”

Dickerson continued to make contributions to the profession throughout his legal career, serving as president of the State Bar of Nevada in 1973. His son, Robert Dickerson, was elected bar president in 1997.

"George M. Dickerson was the epitome of the talented ethical lawyer, one of the finest advocates the Nevada legal system ever produced,” State Bar of Nevada President Rick Pocker observed in a statement. "The high standards he set for himself as a private lawyer, public servant and involved citizen would have been unachievable by anyone but George. The Nevada Bar has lost one of its legends, and the shining example of the proverbial 'great man' who was also a 'good man.’ In his more than sixty years of practice he inspired hundreds of lawyers, myself included, with his dedication, his mastery in the trial arena, and his scrupulously honest approach to public service.”

For all his success, Dickerson was most proud of his marriage to an ebullient free spirit named Doree and his three children. Donna and Gail Andress have counted themselves friends throughout most of that time. They reflected in a statement: “Such a wonderful couple of friends! Can hardly think of Doree without George, they were so entwined in our thoughts. ‘Gentleman George’ he was often called, and that personified him both in his lawyer's work and his personal life. He was the real Nevadan, and the State and we have suffered a loss with his passing.”

In retirement, the humble man cheered the accomplishments of a new generation of Dickersons, which includes 11 grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

“You don’t realize what that person who is at your basketball game, driving you to school, or at your dinner table, has accomplished in his life,” grandson Dan Merica, a Washington, D.C.-based CNN reporter reflected. “I will tell you, his greatest pride was in the personal life and his marriage to my grandmother for 70 years. He was so proud of us and involved in all our lives.”

If asked, George Dickerson wouldn’t have taken the credit, but would have reminded you that it all began in Nevada with a selfless mother’s love.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR. His newest book—a biography of iconic Nevada civil rights and political leader, Joe Neal—”Westside Slugger: Joe Neal’s Lifelong Fight for Social Justice” is published by University of Nevada Press and is available at Amazon.com. Contact him at [email protected]. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith