Mitch Slater, Heritage Promoter and Partner In Delsener/Slater Enterprises, Has Died. | Pollstar News

Frank Micellota/Image Direct/Getty Images Mitch SlaterMitch Slater (R), Chairman of Metropolitan Entertainment at the Broadway Theatre in New York City, July 11, 2002, with Robin Williams.

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 18, Pollstar has confirmed. 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 said to be continuing to work with SFX head Robert Sillerman even after the “roll up king” sold his business to Clear Channel Entertainment, the precursor company to what is now Live Nation.

Prior to joining Delsener, Slater was director of booking at Madison Square Garden.

He also became the board president of LifeBeat, a music and end entertainment industry nonprofit focused on sexual health that was started as a response to the AIDS epedmic in the 1980s.

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.

DiBenedetto told Venues Today “They taught me to be more thick-skinned and not take anything personallyl I learn to trust my instincts more. Mitch taught me how to pick up the phone and get the show confirmed.”

This story will be updated. 

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