LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Lonnie Hammargren was not just a politician, not just a physician.
He's described by a family friend as a vibrant personality with an unwavering commitment to public service, a man whose captivating collection of memorabilia and artifacts helped him to become a Las Vegas legend.
In 1971, Dr. Lonnie Hammargren became the first licensed neurosurgeon in the state of Nevada, spending several years as a NASA flight surgeon.
He was elected to the board of regents for the Nevada System of Higher Education in the late 1980s and became Nevada's Lieutenant Governor in the late 1990s.
In more recent years, his eclectic collection of artifacts and memorabilia took center stage over his political and medical careers.
"What I do is collect history." Hammargren told us in 2017.
"Well, I started collecting as a little kid... collecting butterflies."
He offered the public free tours of his house every year on Nevada Day, which falls on October 31.
RELATED: Famous Hammargren Home open for original Nevada Day
Hammargen's home near Flamingo and Sandhill was once three separate houses. He bought the first in 1971, then the two next door, and began filling all three with thousands of odd objects.
The three connected homes were a showcase of a lifetime of collecting.
It was a museum of Nevada history which also included items from across the globe, including Liberace's staircase, old casino signs, a life-size dinosaur and an Apollo space capsule.
"If I'd have had my choice, I'd have been an astronaut," said Hammargren.
He once told Channel 13 he thought he'd spent about $20 million over about 40 years on his ever-growing collection.
He auctioned off many of the unusual items after losing the original home to foreclosure in 2017.
The Clark County Coroner has not yet released a cause of death. In 2007, Hammargren celebrated his own death in life, holding what he called an "awake wake" for himself.
It included a mock eulogy service and New Orleans style funeral march. He was even placed in a sarcophagus in the Egyptian tomb in his garage that he emerged from an hour later.
