Elias Ghanem; Head of Nevada State Athletic Commission

Elias F. Ghanem, 62, chairman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission for the last four years who presided over the disciplinary hearing for Mike Tyson, died Monday of kidney cancer at his Las Vegas home.

A physician whose clients included Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby, Ghanem was named to the boxing commission in July 1987. After former heavyweight champ Tyson bit the ear of ex-champ Evander Holyfield in 1997, the commission hearing resulted in the revocation of Tyson’s boxing license and a record $3-million fine.

During his commission tenure, Ghanem was credited with instituting health and safety measures that have been adopted worldwide. They include mandatory HIV testing and mandatory hepatitis B and hepatitis C testing.

Born in Haifa, Israel, the naturalized U.S. citizen immigrated to the United States in 1963 and received his medical education, including interning at UCLA. Ghanem established a Las Vegas practice in emergency medicine in 1971, and developed a string of 24-hour clinics.