Just minutes ago, Las Vegas Sun reporter Rick Velotta posted the news that we’d been dreading for several years now. Former MGM Mirage CEO J. Terrence Lanni has died, presumably for the cancer from which he was revealed to be suffering two years ago. When Lanni’s career abruptly flamed out in late 2008, there was much speculation as to the cause — with health being one of the possible reasons cited. There will be plenty of time for rehashing whether it was that, one of a plethora of other issues or just a perfect storm of career-ending crises.
What’s undeniable is that Lanni presided over a 13-year period of expansion that saw MGM go from being the operator of an emerald-colored megaresort on the Las Vegas Strip to an international presence and one of the dominant forces in the gaming world. By the end of his tenure, the company had 
devoured rivals Mirage Resorts and Mandalay Resort Group and, scarcely pausing to burp, had plunged into CityCenter (a project that seems to have been forced upon Lanni). He also saw the company plant lucrative footholds in Detroit (below) and Macao (left), even if Lanni’s Macanese machinations may have led to his exit.
Locally, he will be best remembered for the company’s Diversity Initiative. When the local chapter of the NAACP tried to strong-arm Lanni into minority set-asides, the CEO held firm (and the Vegas leadership of the NAACP got its walking papers). However, Lanni turned that unpleasant clash into a positive by launching a program to promote promotion and purchasing practices to make MGM look more like America at large. He liked to quote Mohandas K. Gandhi to the effect of embodying the change you want to see. The move also helped repair damage to the company’s image when it overreacted to the Sept. 11 attacks, dumping thousands of workers and earning its CEO the undoubtedly painful moniker “Osama bin Lanni.” (MGM ended 4Q01 and the year in the black.) How ironic that a casino CEO generally known for his probity was originally brought into the industry by one of the most notoriously mobbed-up executives in gaming history.
Along with Maureen Peckman, Lanni also took an active — detractors would say “meddlesome” — role in trying to affect the course of the Clark County educational system. Perhaps, had Lanni enjoyed a long and healthy retirement from MGM, he would have made a strong candidate to succeed Jim Rogers as the chancellor of Nevada‘s higher-educational system. Educators certainly would have welcomed Lanni’s low-key style after the tempestuous Rogers reign.
A former chairman of the American Gaming Association, Lanni was a fixture of G2E. As consolidation diminished the number of high-profile CEOs in gaming, Frank Fahrenkopf‘s annual roundtables shrank to colloquies between the smooth, pontifical Lanni and his sputtering opposite number from Harrrah’s Entertainment, Gary Loveman. This gave rise to the panel’s nickname, “The Gary and Terry Show.”
Alas, that highbrow Mutt & Jeff act has now been canceled. Permanently. As Lanni exits this vale of sorrows, one is quite certain he’s going to a better place … even if it may not have bottle service Up There.
(Interesting fact: The text of Jim Murren‘s obituary for Lanni, linked above, tracks remarkably closely with that of Lanni’s Wikipedia entry. It makes you wonder if that obit was prepared long ago, in anticipation of today’s doleful news.)
Dave. Well done. RIP Terry.
While your photo of the MGM Grand Detroit at night is much more attractive, I have the distinct pleasure of being able to see it in the distance in person, out of my office window. Thanks, Terry, for investing in “The D”!
Mr. Lanni’s passing is horseracing’s loss tool See bloodhorse.com.
Terry Lanni was a class act and treated every one with respect. Upon first meeting him in 1977 at Caesars it became clear that he was different from many casino bosses wanted to be addressed by his 1st name. I once was fired from my job and then hired back, Terry came down from his office to welcome me back. I always stayed in contact with him through notes or phone calls or office visits and was always welcomed;he would always answer his phone when I called or see me in his office without an appointment. The day that he walked into Bellagio with Steve and Elaine he walked up and said “Hi Roger” and I welcomed him,the Wynns just looked at me as to say how do you know him. That’s the way he was never to busy to say hi our stop to ask how the family was. I was sad when he left MGM and even sader that he has passed on;but know that he is know resting in heavenly peace. God bless Terry Lanni and his Family. Thank You, Roger
It seems that after reading the different articles about Terry Lanni’s career in the casino business he would have been successful in any type of business he chose to work in. RIP Mr. Lanni.