Veteran Nevada campaign manager Kent Oram dies at age 77

Longtime Nevada campaign manager Kent Oram, political adviser to future governors, county commissioners, sheriffs and judges over more than three decades, died of heart failure Friday, his family said.

Oram, 77, was surrounded by family members at his Las Vegas home when he died.

Over a span of 36 years, Richard Kent Oram consulted on or directly managed more than 100 campaigns for city, county and statewide office, his family said.

He was known for his tenacious work ethic.

“Anything he ever did, he was the best,” said Marilyn Plise, his assistant for nearly 40 years.

Many who benefited from Oram’s skills and counsel praised him as key to their success.

Count Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval as chief among them. Oram was at the helm of Sandoval’s successful attorney general and gubernatorial runs for office.

“I, like many others, would not be where I am without Kent Oram,” Sandoval said Sunday. “He truly is a Nevada treasure and somebody who changed the history of Nevada and put the right people in the right place at the right time to be public servants.”

The governor said he was thankful to have had Oram’s wisdom and guidance.

“He is one of the most incredible men that I’ve ever met in terms of his ethics, what he taught me in terms of being a great public servant and serving the people first,” Sandoval said. “How he taught me to be a better person and the importance of public service. He was somebody who taught me a lot about life and how to be a better person and a better father.”

Beginnings

Oram was born Nov. 23, 1940, in Hammond, Indiana. He graduated from Indiana University with a combined bachelor’s degree in history and political science, his family said. He served in the Air Force, from which he was honorably discharged.

He founded Oram, Ingram & Zurawski Advertising Inc., which was incorporated in 1973, according to information provided by the family. With broad experience in marketing and advertising, he specialized in political campaign management and consulting.

Outside of politics, Oram worked with local, national and international companies, such as Hilton Hotels, Becker Gaming and Becker Homes, Coach USA, R&R Partners, Rogich Communications Group and Hickory Farms of Ohio.

His family said Oram, who retired in June, wrote and produced more than 1,000 television and radio commercials and wrote songs for many of his corporate clients.

Sig Rogich, president of Rogich Communications Group, remembered Oram as very smart and loyal to a fault to family and friends.

“And one who always looked for ways to do things differently when it came to politics. And he was very, very successful at it,” Rogich said in an email Sunday. “He was a very good friend to me since the early ’70s, and I will miss him greatly.”

Oram was guided by a strong sense of ethics and morals, said former Clark County Sheriff Bill Young, a close friend and former client. Oram ran campaigns for various levels of political office but focused on the governor’s and sheriff’s races because he cared deeply about the safety of Nevadans and Clark County residents, Young said.

“He was on your team because he believed in you,” he said. “And if you had Kent Oram believing in you and on your side, you felt invincible.”

‘You don’t replace a Kent Oram’

Oram never strayed from his sense of what was right, and he would do anything in his power to defeat people who cut corners, Young said.

He called his friend a political genius and a savant. “He was probably the strongest political person or influencer in the state of Nevada,” he said.

Young met Oram in 1986. His first impression?

“This man is really intense,” Young said.

But Oram and Young grew close. Oram would lend an ear and offer help for any issue a friend could encounter, Young said.

When Young decided he would consider running for sheriff, Oram was one of his first calls.

“His first words were, ‘You know, Bill, I was expecting your call,’” Young said.

“Why were you expecting my call, Kent?” Young asked.

“I just knew,” Oram replied.

Young’s successor, Doug Gillespie, attributed his success as a candidate and as Clark County sheriff to Oram. The longtime consultant not only knew how to run a campaign but also understood the ins and outs of being sheriff, Gillespie said.

During Gillespie’s campaign for office, Oram would challenge the former sheriff during debate preparations by quickly asking follow-up questions or offering other perspectives.

Oram liked to portray himself as “gruff,” the former sheriff said, but he had a compassionate side the public may not have seen. Seven officers died during Gillespie’s tenure as sheriff, and Oram was always one of the first to call and check on how the sheriff was doing.

“You don’t replace a Kent Oram,” Gillespie said.

Among the many other campaigns Oram helped guide were those of two other governors, Kenny Guinn and Bob Miller; Clark County sheriffs Joe Lombardo, Jerry Keller and John Moran; and Las Vegas mayors Oscar Goodman and Ron Lurie.

R&R Partners CEO Billy Vassiliadis said Oram led campaigns for bond issues that made life better for residents of Southern Nevada, including initiatives that improved roads and flood control measures and put more police on the street.

“He was one of those people who was part of the foundation of what Las Vegas is today,” Vassiliadis said. “He was fiercely loyal in support of the Police Department.”

Vassiliadis called Oram an amazing role model and friend and added that “he was just an incredible human being.”

Vassiliadis said the single most important lesson he learned from Oram was never to lose touch.

“He kept it real,” Vassiliadis said.

Today’s buzzword, he said, is “authenticity.” “He was that before there was a term for it. He spoke to people in ways that were real and about real things.”

And Oram exhibited that trait.

“What was real to him was not fancy homes and big cars,” Vassiliadis said. His first thought was always with his family, he said, adding that Oram’s wife, Becky, was “the love of his life.”

Oscar Goodman said Oram was one of the first people he met when he came to Las Vegas in the 1960s.

He kept Oram on staff for all of his mayoral races, and when current Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman decided to run, Oram would volunteer his advice by calling and emailing the Goodmans daily.

“He was a guru,” Carolyn Goodman said. “He knew everything.”

Oscar Goodman said that running campaigns was more than just a job for Oram. He lived it.

“It’s a loss for Las Vegas and the politics of old,” he said. “Kent was a throwback.”

A full life

While politics played an integral role in Oram’s life, it never overshadowed the importance of family.

His goal was always to make his wife proud, son Eric Oram said. He had a sense of how things should be done, his son said, and he worked tirelessly to make sure they got done the right way.

“He measured his success on how much love he had from his family. And rightfully, he considered himself the richest man in the world,” the family said in a statement.

Oram also engaged in pursuits outside work, including martial arts, handgun shooting, baseball, bowling and poker, friends and family said. He also was an avid collector of coins, toy trains, comic books, movie posters and baseball cards.

“Everything he did he did with zeal and passion,” Vassiliadis said.

During his life, Oram received multiple honors, including the key to the city of Las Vegas and the Clark County Branding Iron.

“Next to my own father, I don’t think I talked to or admired a man more than Kent,” Young said.

Oram is survived by his wife of 55 years, Becky; children Lisa Hunt, Eric Oram and Andrea Moreen; four grandchildren; and his brother, Thomas Oram.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Blake Apgar and assistant city editor Marian Green contributed to this report.