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LAS VEGAS (AP) — An auction of a late Las Vegas philanthropist's antique car collection has raised $9.5 million to support education in Nevada.
Some 3,000 bidders from across the country attended the auction of Jim Rogers' more than 230 classic cars on Saturday in Las Vegas.
A 1962 Rolls-Royce Mulliner Drophead Coupe fetched the most by selling for $320,000, according to Mecum Auctions.
All net proceeds will go to The Rogers Foundation, which was established in 2013 by Rogers and his wife, Beverly, to provide scholarships and grants to Nevada students and schools as well as to support the arts.
Earlier this year, 25 students from a local elementary school were selected by the foundation to receive a full college scholarship to any Nevada institution of their choice.
"Jim was passionate about making (Las Vegas) a better place to live," Beverly Rogers told KSNV-TV (http://bit.ly/1EDEAxz ). "The future is in the children and making sure they're educated because it's the only thing that will build a foundation for a better life."
Rogers, who died last June of cancer at the age of 75, served as chancellor of Nevada's higher education system from 2005 to 2009 without pay and fought for increased education funding.
He also was the owner of KSNV-TV, the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas, and oversaw the growth of Sunbelt Communications into 14 TV stations in five Western states. Sunbelt now is known as Intermountain West Communications Co.
In 2007, Rogers said he was worth about $300 million and had donated some $275 million to universities, including $60 million to schools in Nevada. In 2000, he was named among the nation's top 12 philanthropists by Time magazine.
Mike Pratt, a close friend who helped Rogers assemble the car collection, said the auction prompted mixed emotions. At its peak, the collection consisted of nearly 300 mostly American cars.
"It's bittersweet because Jim and I spent a lot of time and money collecting these cars," Pratt said. "(But) assisting anyone and everyone with education was his dream, and I know he'd be ecstatic."
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Information from: KSNV-TV, http://www.mynews3.com/index.php
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