Larry Ruvo
Larry Ruvo has been in the wholesale liquor and wine business for more than 40 years. He has led Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada as senior managing director since 1969. Under his guidance, the company has become Nevada's largest wholesale liquor, wine, and beer importer and distributor. Ruvo is well known in the Las Vegas community for his ongoing support of charitable organizations, many of which are associated with education and children. For his efforts, he was presented the Altruistic Award by the Meadows School, a pre-K-12 private school that he helped to establish. As a trustee for the UNLV Foundation, he helps raise money for scholarships in hotel management at the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at UNLV. UNLVino, another of his endeavors and one of the biggest wine-tasting events in Nevada, donates all its proceeds to scholarship funds for the hotel college students.
Ruvo is also a founding member of the Young Presidents' Organization–Nevada Chapter, a former member of the World Presidents' Organization and Bailli of the Chaine des Rotisseurs in Las Vegas, and a member of the Bluecoats in Nevada. He serves as a board member of the Nevada Ballet Dance Theatre and the American Gaming Association. He is a founding member of the Nevada Tourism Alliance as well as the Council for a Better Nevada. He is a supporter of numerous philanthropic endeavors in Nevada as well as nationally and internationally.
In 1994, after the loss of his father, Lou Ruvo, to Alzheimer's disease, Larry Ruvo made it his mission to hopefully cure the devastating diseases Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and ALS. Ruvo worked toward establishing a cognitive disease center, which resulted in his funding of The Lou Ruvo Brain Institute. The institute is unique in its bold mission — to establish the international gold standard in the treatment of patients with dementia and Alzheimer's and in supporting their caregivers. The founding of Keep Memory Alive and now its partnership with the esteemed Cleveland Clinic will forever change medical care in Nevada. The $100 million building designed by internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry is home to the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, the world's epicenter for research of these horrific diseases.
Ruvo also has been the recipient of numerous honors. He received the UNLV President's Medal and was listed as one of the most Influential Businessmen of Southern Nevada in 2004 and 2009. Also in 2009, he was named Distinguished Nevadan by UNLV, received the Woodrow Wilson Award, and joined the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland Clinic. In 2010, he received the Angel Awards Humanitarian of the Year from In Business.
Ruvo is married to Camille and has three daughters: Nicole, Lauren, and Brianna.