Las Vegas attorney Peter Bernhard and his wife Susie will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Jan. 8. Earlier this month in St. Louis, Bernhard got to watch his seven-year-old grandson score his first goal in a youth hockey game.

The two joyous events have a deep significance to him because he almost didn’t live to experience them.

Bernhard, 72, who holds the distinction of being the longest-serving chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, was waiting for court proceedings to begin in a civil trial on the 10th floor of the Regional Justice Center on June 21 when he suffered a massive heart attack.