Yes, Howard Herz is the grandson of Carl Otto Herz, who was co-owner with his brother, Richard Herz, of R. Herz & Bro. Jewelers on North Virginia Street in Reno. (In the 1950s, Ernie Primm bought the Herz Building, and it became part of Club Primadonna.)

Carl Otto Herz's son, Walter Herz (Howard's father), married Marcelle Barkley (Howard's mother), whose sister, Llewellyn Barkley, married Harvey Gross, owner of Harvey's Resort Hotel & Casino in Stateline. (Harvey and Llewellyn Gross were friends of Governor Laxalt, and today there is a Llewellyn Barkeley Gross Memorial Pavilion in the back yard of the Governor's Mansion.)

So Howard Herz has an impressive historic business pedigree on both sides of his family.

(It's not often I get to combine my interests in genealogy and casino history into one post.)