Erwin combined his legal skills and mind for business to make a mark on his hometown. After graduating at the top of his University of Nebraska law school class, he first worked in New York before returning to Omaha in 1974 and becoming the ninth partner at Kutak Rock. The securities lawyer was credited with inventing the publicly traded Master Limited Partnership, an innovative financing vehicle that’s widely used today. In 1984, he co-founded America First Companies, a novel, publicly traded fund of government-backed mortgages. In 1991, Greg won the contract for Omaha’s municipal lottery. Big Red Keno expanded across Nebraska and became one of the nation’s largest keno operators. Erwin died in March 2023 at age 82.