Anthony Hope

Anthony J. "Tony" Hope, the former head of the National Indian Gaming Commission and a son of comedian Bob Hope, died in June 2004. He was 63. Hope, who made an unsuccessful run for a California congressional seat in 1986, died Monday at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., after a brief illness, according to a press release from Bob Hope Enterprises. Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 to serve as chairman of the new National Indian Gaming Commission, Tony Hope held that post through the early years of the Clinton administration, leaving in 1994. Hope oversaw a panel that regulated and monitored the lucrative industry of bingo and other gambling on Indian reservations. The post was Hope's fourth presidential appointment to a government commission but by far his most important. President Ford appointed him vice president of finance for the Overseas Private Investment Corp., and President Carter named him to the Government Management Improvement Council. In the early 1980s, President Reagan appointed him to the Grace Commission, which was formed to find waste and fraud in the federal government. Hope's single run for elective office came in the 1986 Republican primary race against Simi Valley Mayor Elton Gallegly for the 21st Congressional District seat vacated by Rep. Bobbi Fiedler. Despite the presumed advantage in name recognition and funding, Hope was defeated by Gallegly in what was viewed as a major upset. Born in Chicago, Hope was adopted by the comedian and his wife, Dolores, shortly after his birth in 1940. The family soon moved to Los Angeles, where Hope graduated from Loyola High School. He earned a bachelor's degree at Georgetown University and a law degree at Harvard. Hope moved to Washington in 1975 and worked as a consultant and lobbyist representing the Touche Ross accounting firm and Mutual of Omaha in their Washington relations. Hope worked in New Hampshire for George H.W. Bush's presidential campaigns in 1980 and 1988. In addition to his mother, Hope is survived by his wife of 12 years, Paula Nickey Hope; two children, Zachary and Miranda; a sister, Linda Hope; and a brother, William Kelley Hope.