Ruvo center

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and Dr. Toby Cosgrove, president and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, were in attendance Friday at the unveiling of the Life Activity Center at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.

The $80 million complex, named by founder Larry Ruvo for his father, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, opened its doors on the old Union Pacific railroad property downtown less than a year ago.

The center is designed to advance the research, early detection and treatment of neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson's and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Those undertakings would be worthy of pursuit even if they were done in anonymity. But beyond that, there are hopes that the building's distinctive, five-story stainless steel facade, designed by architect Frank Gehry, will advance the city's reputation for architectural innovation, even as the center puts Las Vegas on the map for world-class brain health care and research.

(Did someone ask "Las Vegas -- architectural innovation?" Architecture is about function as well as beauty. Go anywhere else in the world, check into a hotel of more than 2,500 rooms -- though, in fact, the vast majority are right here -- and see if your room has a view, and then try to get a hot meal from room service.)

The new Life Activity Center, at the corner of Grand Central Parkway and Bonneville Avenue between the World Market Center and the county government complex, will host medical education and other events.

Alzheimer's is an incurable disease of the brain that causes progressive degeneration of brain cells. Memory is lost and behavioral changes occur.

"I think my father would be most proud that the hand that was dealt to him is being able to help other people," Larry Ruvo says.

The alliance with the Cleveland Clinic -- which couldn't have happened without an enormous amount of work and dedication on the part of the younger Mr. Ruvo and his team -- have helped make that a reality. And it's the dedication of citizens like Mr. Ruvo, citizens with a vision, that not only makes all Las Vegas proud, but ensures that this city will continue to have much to offer the world in the generations to come.