In this week’s Las Vegas Business Press, I take a look at one aspect of Terry Lanni’s legacy:
There’s already been a great deal written about his work at the helm of MGM Mirage, including his role in guiding the company through two mergers that created today’s MGM Resorts International, and his pioneering work with diversity initiatives with the company. Either of them would have been enough to cement his legacy as a leader in the gaming industry (a rank that his 2000 induction into the American Gaming Association’s Gaming Hall of Fame confirms).
However, his service on the National Gambling Impact Study Commission from 1997 to 1999 was both a sign of his stature in the industry and a landmark accomplishment
via Las Vegas Business Press :: David G. Schwartz : Lanni will be remembered for dignified diplomacy.
Maybe the greatest testament to Lanni’s “dignified diplomacy” came from UNITEHERE! president John Wilhelm, who told me this about Lanni via email:
“Terry considered running for the US Senate as a Republican. I tried mightily, though in vain, to encourage him to do that. I told him that he was a Republican I personally, and our Union, could not just support but enthusiastically work for. He would have been a great public servant.”
Wow. You don’t often see union leaders supporting Republican candidates. Terry Lanni was clearly an exceptional man.