LAS VEGAS — Gloria Dea, the first magician to perform on what would be the Las Vegas Strip, only to be rediscovered in the twilight of her life, has died. She was 100.
Dea died of coronary artery disease at 6:35 a.m. Saturday her caregiver, Beth Bowes, said Saturday morning. Dea died in hospice care at her Las Vegas residence. Plans for a memorial are to be determined.
“Gloria was amazing. She was charming funny and engaging,” magician David Copperfield, who befriended Dea in her later years, said Saturday. “And in Vegas, as a young magician, she started it all. It was an honor to know her.”
