The woman who designed the iconic neon sign that has welcomed countless visitors to Las Vegas since 1959 has died.

Betty Willis, 91, died at her home in Overton, Nevada, according to an obituary on the Virgin Valley & Moapa Valley Mortuaries website.

The artist is credited with designing the famed and often mimicked ‘Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas’ neon sign that sits in the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard south of the Strip.

The sign has become such a popular photo backdrop that a car and tour bus park in the middle of the street was expanded in 2012.

“It’s the most recognisable icon in the world,” said Danielle Kelly, executive director of The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, where the signs of Sin City’s past are retired and on display.

The welcome sign’s design, which does not have a copyright owner, has become a fixture on travel knick-knacks from Vegas and everywhere else.

“The fact that everyone loves that sign and its design after all these years is a testament to Betty’s talents,” Clark County commissioner Steve Sisolak said. “There is prob-ably no bigger Las Vegas icon than that sign.”

In 2009 the sign was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Kelly called Willis’ designs dazzling and said her personality was akin to a strong, fast-talking female lead in movies like His Girl Friday.

“A little salty, a little irreverent,” she said. “I thought she was aclassic broad.”

Willis, born in 1923 in the small town of Overton northeast of Las Vegas, worked as a commercial artist in Los Angeles before returning to Las Vegas, where she worked for sign companies and designed that famous diamond-shaped beacon of flashing lights.