The GOP megadonor, who has died aged 87, also gave over half a billion dollars to Republican causes since 2010.
The billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who has died aged 87, spent hundreds of millions of dollars in later life as Republican kingmaker—and President Donald Trump was a key beneficiary of this largesse. Adelson, who died of complications related to treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma, had an estimated worth of around $35 billion, according to Forbes. This gave him and his wife Miriam plenty of scope to hand vast sums of money to GOP campaigns and causes through super PACs. The Adelsons became the biggest individual donors in American history in 2012 when they gave over $90 million to the unsuccessful Republican campaign to beat President Barack Obama. Aiming for a GOP win next time around, he reportedly told Donald Trump in May 2016 that he would spend more than he had in any previous campaign, raising the prospect of a donation exceeding $100 million.
