Not unlike Winston Groom's fictional character Forrest Gump, Elias Ghanem moved almost effortlessly through the second half of America's 20th Century, rubbing elbows with almost every major figure of consequence along the way.
From Muhammad Ali to Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, from Don King to the King of Rock 'n' Roll, from lowly jail inmates to the President of the United States, Dr Ghanem crossed paths with them all.
In his capacity as chairman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, he was at ringside the night Tyson tried to cannibalize Evander Holyfield's ears, and presided over the subsequent hearing in which Tyson was banned from the sport and fined a world-record $3 million.
He also chaired the hearing 15 months later at which Tyson's Nevada boxing licence was restored.
He was Elvis Presley's personal physician, as well as the doctor for Elvis's posthumous son-in-law Michael Jackson.
Although his patient list also included Liberace, Bill Cosby, Ann-Margret, and Virginia Kelley (the mother of former President Bill Clinton), it was Ghanem's relationship with The King which first brought him under the spotlight of unwanted notoriety.
When ABC's television programme '20-20' reported that he had supplied the drugs which essentially killed Presley, Dr Ghanem threatened to sue - but he never did.
President Clinton, both in and out office, was Ghanem's house-guest when in Las Vegas, and travelled to the Nevada city just a week ago to visit with Ghanem at his hospital bedside. The former president's audience was squeezed in between similar visits from Tyson and Don King.
Although he had been battling renal cancer for nearly four years, Ghanem, who died at 62 on Monday, was active almost until the end. A few days before he died, Ghanem conferred with Marc Ratner, the NSAC's executive director.
"Specifically, we were talking about the Lennox Lewis-Hasim Rahman fight (scheduled for November 17th at the Mandalay Bay) and how much he thought this fight was valuable to Las Vegas," recalled Ratner. "He told me, 'I will be there for that fight, too.' He actually talked about being there."
A Palestinian Catholic of Lebanese descent, Ghanem was born in Haifa in 1939, and came to the United States at 24, when he enrolled first as a university student at North Carolina's Charlotte College, and later at Duke University's Medical School.
While he died a millionaire several times over, Ghanem was a self-made man who arrived on these shores with a college scholarship and $90 in his pocket. He once recalled being so poor that for a time as a medical student at Duke, he lived out of his car. Unable to afford both a home and the vehicle, he said he opted for a car so he could still go on dates.
He moved to Las Vegas in 1971, when he was assigned as a resident at Sunrise Hospital's Emergency Room, and would live in his adopted city for the rest of his life. In 1977 he opened a 24-hour clinic directly behind the Las Vegas Hilton, which was co-owned by Presley's manager, Col Tom Parker. His patient list soon included Barron Hilton, the scion of the hotel chain, and Elvis himself.
Ghanem expanded his practice to include a chain of clinics around Las Vegas, treating literally thousands of patients. He proposed innovative umbrella health-insurance schemes long before they came into vogue, and signed contracts with the Hotel and Casino Workers' Union, by far the largest group of workers in Nevada.
The arrangement was obviously a profitable one for Ghanem, but union leader John Wilhelm, recalled that during a protracted six-year strike at the Frontier Casino, Ghanem treated every worker free of charge and delivered over a hundred babies for the striking workers.
Ghanem's clinics struck a deal to treat members of the local schoolteachers' union, and he also had a contract making his organisation the exclusive medical practice for Clark County's extensive jail population.
Ghanem became the subject of extensive, and not particularly desirable, press coverage following Presley's death, and the FBI conducted a highly public investigation into the billing practices of his clinics, but he was never charged with a crime.
Ghanem's career in the world of sport moved along a parallel track. He was the ringside physician who examined Ali and Leon Spinks prior to Spinks' upset win at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1978, and in 1987 he was appointed to the NSAC, the state's regulatory body.
Several years ago, Ghanem was at the forefront when the Nevada commission became the first regulatory agency in any sport to test for the HIV virus. After leading the way for passage of AIDS testing, Ghanem then performed hundreds of tests to boxers free of charge.
"Dr Ghanem was a formidable friend and a formidable opponent," said Dr Flip Homansky, who followed Ghanem's footsteps in moving from ringside physician to a seat on the NSAC. "He always tried to do what he felt was best for the state of Nevada and for the boxers, and that is all I can aspire to.
"He championed testing the fighters for the HIV virus. He worked predominantly through the medical team in the WBC in many of their safety initiatives. He was always there if the boxer needed anything. I don't know if I ever met anyone as comfortable talking to the President of the United States, the president of a large casino, or a four-round fighter at the Silver Slipper."
Bill Clinton flew to Las Vegas to visit Ghanem at his deathbed six days before the boxing commissioner passed away.
"He was an amazing man, and I count it a great privilege in my life that I got to be his close personal friend," said the former President. "He proceeded to fight this heroic, unbelievable battle against his illness and he lived years longer than anyone thought he could."
