Donald Daniel Friend

Donald Daniel Friend
July 3, 1929 - December 21, 2026

Don Friend died peacefully at his Las Vegas home on December 21, 2025 at age 96. Born July 3, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois, the middle son of Polish immigrants, Joseph Friend and Frieda Orlansky. Growing up in the windy city between his two brothers, Sol and Larry, he attended the Chicago Musical College and earned a music degree at the Roosevelt University. A self-taught piano prodigy who started playing at age five, Don moved to Los Angeles in 1952 to explore opportunities as a touring performer, landing a spot with Mike Riley and the Madcaps who recorded the hit single, “The Music Goes Round and Round.”
One of their road gigs was at the Golden Nugget Casino in downtown Las Vegas, where he relocated in 1959 for ongoing bookings at the El Cortez casino and the Fremont Hotel lounge as a member of Tepper and Friend alongside comic, Herbie Tepper. The duo shared the bill with the Newton Brothers - Wayne Newton and brother, Jerry - at the Fremont’s Carnival Lounge. Don formed his next band, The Five Chords, a vocal outfit inspired by the Letterman where the tall, skinny man with the rapturous, Robert Goulet pipes acted as frontman/emcee and pianist.
His original run as a touring showman paused in 1969 when Don met and married Sherry Jackson from Richmond, Virginia. While living in Richmond, Don worked as a salesman for the Lawson Products hardware company, moonlighting on the keys at popular local venues like Byram’s Restaurant, the 3200 Club, Benjamin’s and Stanley Stegmeyers. He was asked to perform at numerous private functions like Bar Mitzvah’s, weddings and political events attended by various, high level local government officials.
Don’s affable, wise-cracking style endeared him to a wide-cultural cross section of audiences. He was a man of great faith. In 1989 he received the Sam Troy Award for Man of the Year in appreciation for outstanding service and dedication to brotherhood, Congregation Beth Ahabah and the Jewish Community.
After retiring in 1994, Don and Sherry moved to Las Vegas where he soon opened the second and most important chapter of his professional career: performing for elders at various assisted living centers across the Vegas Valley. Don established himself as the “Sinatra of the Senior Set,” entertaining residents at The Grand Court, Mira Loma, The Cottages, Silver Ridge, Las Ventanas and Atria Seville facilities. The Octogenarian crooner of Hebrew heritage played the classic songs of golden ages past for intimate, attentive, health-challenged gatherings. “Remember this one?” he’d repeat, no matter the tune. When the holidays rolled around, Don would consciously craft a set-list of Christmas favorites. No veteran Jewish vocalist since Sammy Davis, Jr., on or off the Strip, delivered a more robust “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” or sincere “Silent Night.” He played because it gave them a brief escape from their pain while at the same time adding years to his own ticking clock. When Don’s digits danced the ivories for a rip-roaring “Route 66” every heart in the room was blissfully speeding,
What truly set Don apart, however, was his near century long relationship with music. His memory was a songbook comprised of thousands of familiar numbers from across the decades of popular music and his accomplishments were celebrated in several media stories including a legacy profile written by well-known desert columnist, John Katsilomentes. Until his farewell performance in July 2024 at Atria Seville when he finally decided to retire because his hands were hurting and the eternally muscular voice was beginning to fray (“I want to quite while I still sound good”), he closed every set with the timeless ballad that defined his life, “My Way,” pouring himself mind, body and spirit into the final verse, “The record shows, I took the blows, and did it…My Way!”
Don cherished his family. He is survived by his devoted wife of 56 years, Sherry; his sons, Lonn, Rick, and Michael and his daughter, Michelle; Rick’s wife, Lynda and their children, Aaron and Sam; Michelle’s husband, Travis and their daughters, Sage and Hayden; Michael’s children, Ava and Carson; Lonn’s daughter, Megan and her 16-month-old, son Orlando, who Great Grandpa got to meet last July.
The piano man has left the stage but his melodies and memory live on.

Memorial Services will be held on February 15th, 1pm,
at Congregation Ner Tamid in Henderson, NV.