Longtime Las Vegas construction leader dies

A motorcade of construction vehicles took to Las Vegas Boulevard on Friday morning to celebrate the life of a longtime Las Vegas industry leader.

Michael Frazier, co-founder of XL Concrete Masonry and a construction professional in the southwest for more than 30 years, died on July 8. He was 62.

XL Masonry and some supporting businesses started by Frazier are behind many warehouses and other concrete tilt-up construction projects in the valley. One of his biggest projects – completed while he led the family business, Frazier Masonry – was the block and stone masonry work for the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Las Vegas.

Russell Frazier, his younger brother and business partner, said the Smith Center project was “the most challenging job” they ever took on.

“I was afraid of it. I thought it was risky,” Russell Frazier said. “And Mike said, ‘We can do this for us.’ And by golly, he did it and it’s beautiful.”

Others praised Frazier’s reputation in the construction industry. Tyler Medina, his son-in-law and superintendent of general contractor Rafael Construction, said he was known as a reliable and creative subcontractor.

“We’d be able to count on him to get jobs done on time,” Medina said. “Anything we needed, we could get done.”

Born in Lancaster, California, and a graduate of the city’s Antelope Valley High School, Frazier moved to the Vegas area in the mid-1990s when the family business, Frazier Masonry Corporation, expanded to the region from Southern California.

Frazier was known by his loved ones as a gregarious, life-of-the-party type who worked hard to build things for his family and others. He spent years building a lakeside retreat for his family at Panguitch Lake, Utah, and enjoyed traveling with his friends and family, like an annual boys trip to Aspen or fishing trips in Alaska.

“He was such a great provider for us and for so many other people,” Zach Frazier, his son, said.

Frazier’s family created a fundraiser for the American Heart Association in his memory with a $5,000 goal. It raised more than five times that amount as of Friday afternoon.

“The minute his head came through the door, he would light up the room with his smile and his laugh was so incredibly contagious,” Russell Frazier said of his brother. “I’m deeply moved by the graciousness and the outpouring of love. To know that he touched so many people is incredibly heartwarming to me.”

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.