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SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY feeding the soul AS THE LOU RUVO CENTER FOR BRAIN HEALTH CELEBRATES ITS 17TH ANNUAL KEEP MEMORY ALIVE GALA, WE REMEMBER THE DINNER THAT BIRTHED THIS WORLD-CLASS FACILITY. BY DAVE BERNS 54 This year���s gathering will celebrate the 80th birthdays of musician, composer, and conductor Quincy Jones and actor and author Sir Michael Caine. Performers at past galas have included Michael Bubl��, Snoop Dogg, CeeLo Green, Enrique Iglesias, LL Cool J, Lenny Kravitz, Barry Manilow, Lionel Ritchie, and Stevie Wonder. (The original 1995 gathering wasn���t without some star power, however: It was hosted by Ruvo family friend Wolfgang Puck.) What follows are memories from Larry Ruvo and others who attended the dinner that forever changed the Las Vegas healthcare community and the nature of local philanthropy.... continued on page 56 PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF GALE O ne year after Lou Ruvo���s February 1994 death due to complications from Alzheimer���s disease, 35 of son Larry���s friends, many of them among Las Vegas���s bestknown gaming and restaurant executives, gathered for dinner at Spago in the Forum Shops. They shared stories about the life of the Upstate New York native, who moved here in the early 1950s and opened a restaurant���the Venetian���in the shadow of the Sands in 1955. Lou and wife Angie���s Italian restaurant was a favorite of locals and tourists for nearly 40 years, as Larry became a Larry Ruvo and key figure in the local business community Kenny Epstein in through his Southern Wine & Spirits distributorfront of the Lou Ruvo Center for ship. One thing led to another, and that dinner Brain Health. turned into a fundraiser���one that slowly grew into the celebrity-packed powerhouse it is today. Keep Memory Alive���s 17th annual Power of Love gala is set for April 13 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and will bring together loyal, familiar faces���some of whom were there on the historic night when a group of friends at a small memorial dinner ended up founding Las Vegas���s most famous fundraising event. At its 15th annual Power of Love gala, Keep Memory Alive announced that it had raised $100 million since its inception. It was key to the construction of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, a world-class Alzheimer���s treatment facility in Downtown Las Vegas, which opened in July 2009 at a cost of $80 million. VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 054-060_V_SP_SpiritofGen_Spring13.indd 54 2/12/13 3:39 PM