Adam John Yacenda was born December 17, 1915, in
Jersey City, New Jersey. He began his career as a
stringer for the
New York World-Telegram before spending time at several New Jersey newspapers. In 1950, Yacenda became then-congressman
Richard Nixon's press secretary. Under Yacenda's leadership, the paper continued to grow. In 1963, it moved to twice weekly publication. Explaining the growth years later, reporter Bruce Hasley remarked "[Yacenda] really understood how to make a small
community paper succeed. I will never forget his hammering away at photos of children and dogs and getting as many names of local people in the paper as we could." The
Valley Times expanded to tri-weekly publication in 1973, but North Las Vegas never saw the growth Yacenda had envisioned. The city council was in turmoil and the community received little support from the state government which did not view it as having a unique identity separate from Las Vegas. Facing heart surgery for a defective heart valve, Yacenda sold his paper to
Bob Brown in November 1973. Upon the sale, Brown described Yacenda as "one of Nevada's outstanding newspaperman. He has done an amazing job building the
Valley Times against tremendous odds ...Adam Yacenda has made the
Valley Times a very successful and widely read newspaper." Yacenda remained politically active throughout his life. He was a close adviser to
Oran Gragson on his four successful campaigns for Las Vegas mayor and an unsuccessful bid for governor in 1962. As Yacenda aged, he found the Democratic Party to be a better fit to his ideology and switched his allegiance. He was asked by the Democratic Party to run for a state senate seat in 1966, but declined the invitation. He attempted to aid Democrats Ed Fike and
Mike O'Callaghan in late 1960s election campaigns, but was blocked by the party who felt he was too independent. In 1986, Hasley recalled, "[Yacenda] had one of the shrewdest political minds around ... a lot of people in office today owe their careers to him." After selling the
Valley Times, Yacenda contributed to a variety of Las Vegas area publications, including helping with the
Sun youth forum in 1984. Yacenda remained active in the North Las Vegas community until his death. He is credited for being a key figure in creation of
North Las Vegas Library, to which he donated both his time and money. ==Death and legacy==