Features
Mitch Slater, Heritage Promoter and Partner In Delsener/Slater Enterprises, Dies At 59
– Mitch Slater
Mitch Slater, a heritage concert promoter who partnered with Ron Delsener to form Delsener / Slater Presents in 1988 before the company was acquired by SFX Entertainment in 1996, and later acquired Metropolitan Entertainment Group, died July 21. Slater is said to have suffered health challenges in recent years, but no cause of death has been disclosed.
Slater became a key figure at the core of SFX Entertainment’s business, being elevated to executive vice president and continuing to work with SFX head Robert Sillerman after he sold his business to Clear Channel Entertainment, the precursor company to what is now Live Nation. Their company, CKX later acquired the Elvis Presley & Muhammad Ali estates, 19 Entertainment that owns American Idol and others.
Prior to joining Delsener, Slater was director of booking at Madison Square Garden.
Mitch was a long-time board member of LIFEbeat, a music and entertainment industry nonprofit focused on sexual health that was founded as a response to the AIDS epidemic and served as Board President 1999-2012.
Slater established The Slater Family Scholarship at Muhlenberg College, which is awarded yearly to a qualifying student who has financial need.
Slater acquired Metropolitan Entertainment Group in 2002, and sold it to Clear Channel Entertainment after less than a year, bringing in MEG staff including Debra Rathwell, now an exec with AEG Presents, and Donna DiBenedetto. Other notables who came through the Delsener / Slater company include Amy Morrison, Nicole Neal, Melissa Ormond and Ali Harnell.
His brother, former Capitol Records CEO Andy Slater, said in a statement: “To most people he was one of the architects of the modern concert era, but to me he was my baby brother. When he started in music, I said if you’re half as good at business as you are as a brother, you’ll be a great success. He far exceeded that mark.
“Our father taught us that our word had to be honored. Anyone who knew Mitch, knew that he lived by that.
“Our bond was as strong as it gets. A piece of me is gone. A piece of anyone who knew him is gone. Rest In Peace, little brother.”
Mitch Slater is survived by his wife Pamela Slater and daughters Lana, Amelia, Julia, brother Andrew and mother, Rita.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his honor to Backyard Sports Cares.