Gregory Du Bois Erwin

1940 - 2023

Erwin, Gregory Du Bois

November 6, 1940 - March 8, 2023

Gregory DuBois Erwin, beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, on March 8, 2023 at 11:11am in Sarasota, FL. He was 82 years old.

Greg graduated President of his class at Omaha's Central High School in 1958. He then went on to graduate near the bottom of his class at Grinnell College, but true to form as the "Comeback King", rebounded to graduate first in his class at the University of Nebraska Law School in 1965.

Greg began his legal career at Dewey Ballantine in New York, and subsequently moved back to Omaha in 1974 to become the 9th partner, and first securities lawyer, at Kutak Rock. During his time there in 1981, Greg was credited with inventing the publicly traded Master Limited Partnership, an innovative financing vehicle that is widely used today. According to Jill Goldstein of Kutak Rock LLP, "Greg was instrumental in Kutak's growth in the late '70s/early '80s. He was involved in creating brilliant complex financial structures that we still bring to bear on our deals today and our firm is beyond grateful for his legacy."

In 1984, Greg co-founded America First Companies, a first-of-its-kind, publicly traded fund of government-backed mortgages. In 1991 Greg won the bid for Omaha's municipal lottery, forming Big Red Keno, which became the largest operator of Las Vegas-style keno in the United States. Then, for more than 30 years, together with his business partners, Dan Pankow, Gary Vander Woude, and Bill Harvey, Greg expanded Big Red Keno to include multiple locations in Nebraska with Big Red Restaurant & Sports Bars. In total, Big Red has raised over $315 million for local community betterment in Nebraska since 1991.

Greg will be remembered as an astute businessman with a heart of gold, always game to untangle complicated ideas, and help friends and family realize their own dreams. In the closing of his memoir, "Outside the Box: It's My Story (and I'm Sticking to it)", Greg wrote "The most important thing in life is to be authentic. Always."

Greg was known for his humor, generosity and unfaltering optimism, even when diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at just 55 years old. Despite epic health battles over the next 25 years, he refused to let bitterness enter his heart, which instead continued to open for the rest of his days. Despite ill health, he even rallied to attend his son's wedding in California in October of 2022, where he was the Beau of the Ball.

Greg is survived by his wife, Billie Erwin; his sister and brother-in-law, Trudy and John Nelson; his children: Stacy Kray, Faith Freed, and Geoff Erwin; his four grandchildren: Max and Ned Sigler, and Jasper and Rya Kray; his step-daughter Sharon Elliot; and her children, Lauren and Justin Lowe.

In lieu of flowers, please send contributions in the name of Greg Erwin to www.ParkinsonsVoiceProject.org