Services set for ‘pioneer for advocacy’ Ruby Duncan

A viewing and services for Las Vegas workers rights advocate Ruby Duncan is scheduled for later this month.

A spokeswoman for Second Baptist Church in Las Vegas said a viewing for Duncan is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. May 22 at the church, 500 Madison Ave. Services are scheduled for the following day at the church at 10 a.m.

Duncan is widely recognized for her relentless advocacy for the poor and worker rights in Southern Nevada. She organized a welfare rights march in the 1970s that temporarily halted gambling at Caesars Palace.

Duncan also was a founder of the anti-poverty agency Operation Life and helped establish a medical clinic in Las Vegas’ West Side.

Duncan, 93, died at Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center on April 26, according to her granddaughter Libra Duncan. Community leaders have since hailed her many contributions to the Southern Nevada community.

“Her legacy of justice and compassion will continue to be taught to generations of North Las Vegas students at Ruby Duncan Elementary School,” North Las Vegas Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown said in a statement.

Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy II said Duncan was a “true pioneer for advocacy.”

“For more than half a century, Ruby blazed a trail from the Historic Westside to The Strip, tirelessly fighting for the rights of workers throughout Southern Nevada,” McCurdy said in a statement. “Her commitment to equal justice has been an inspiration to all who were lucky enough to know her, and her name and legacy will live on throughout our community for generations to come.”

Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com.