Dr. John Murren was chief of the Yale Medical Oncology Outpatient Clinic and director of the Lung Cancer Unit at the Yale Cancer Center. He was also the inspiration behind the Nevada Cancer Institute founded by his brother, Jim Murren, president and chief financial officer of MGM Mirage. (NYSE:MGM)

Jim Murren told the Las Vegas Sun that his brother had melanoma, a rare and deadly form of skin cancer, seven years ago. The cancer recurred just before Thanksgiving.

John Murren sat on the Nevada institute's board and recruited much of its staff.

"Cancer only took out my brother because he was too damn good," Jim Murren told the newspaper. "This is a battle. He was winning the war, and they took him off the field. But there are plenty of Murrens behind him."