Adelson (Sheldon) is born in Dorchester.

The son of immigrants Arthur and Sarah (Tonkin) Adelson, he grows up on Erie Street, begins selling newspapers at 12 and operates a vending machine business at 16. He graduates from Roxbury Memorial High School, drops out of city College of New York, serves in the U.S. Army, and after staring dozens of small business, becomes wealthy after starting and selling a computer convention business in 1995. Adelson goes on to become a hotel and casino mogul, a philanthropist, one of the richest men in the world, and large doner to first Democratic and then Republican politicians. He dies in Las Vegas on January 11, 2021.