Overview

• Officials announced Friday that Ralenkotter died after a long battle with cancer at age 78.
• He spent 45 years at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, including 16 years as president and CEO.
• At the agency he established a marketing bulletin and visitor survey system that remains in use and guided strategy.
• Under his leadership Las Vegas launched the iconic “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” campaign.
• Coverage credits his tenure with helping drive growth from roughly 23,000 hotel rooms when he started to about 155,000 today, even as his 2018 exit followed a gift-card probe that led to a misdemeanor plea and more than $24,000 in ethics fines.