Tom Rivera, a marketing and tourism chief in the Northwest suburbs in the 1980s and 1990s, has died.
Courtesy of Kathy Rivera
The founder of the convention and visitors bureau covering the Northwest suburbs is being remembered for his influence and impact across the region and state.
Thomas Rivera, who led the Greater Woodfield Convention and Visitors Bureau for more than two decades after its launch in 1983, died July 30. The Deer Park resident, formerly a longtime resident of Roselle, was 91.
With the encouragement of hotel developer Bill Walsh, Rivera started the nonprofit Schaumburg-based marketing organization with an $83,000 budget. By the time he retired as president in the mid-2000s, the bureau was helping generate $50 million a year in tourism revenue for the region.
He considered the 2006 opening of the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel his greatest achievement, having spent practically his whole tenure at the convention bureau lobbying governors and legislators for funding for the project.
“For 20 some years, he fought to get that convention building up and running,” said his wife, Kathy. “That was his baby.”
Rivera was a regular in the halls of the state Capitol lobbying for tourism dollars to bring back to the Northwest suburbs. He knew and gained the respect of governors from Jim Thompson to JB Pritzker, who awarded him with the Illinois Office of Tourism’s Distinguished Tourism Leadership Award in 2019.
Officials at Meet Chicago Northwest — what the local tourism bureau is known as today — said Rivera’s legacy continues to shape their work.
“Tom’s passion for community and visionary leadership will be remembered by those fortunate enough to work alongside him,” the organization posted online last week.
Rivera cut his teeth in the marketing and tourism business at what was one of the region’s biggest sports and entertainment destinations: Arlington Park racetrack. He was director of public relations, marketing, advertising and television for both Arlington and Washington parks’ tracks, which was then under the ownership of Madison Square Garden Corp.
In 1981, Rivera helped stage the inaugural running of the Arlington Million, the first thoroughbred horse race to offer a $1 million purse that attracted horses from around the world.
Tom Rivera was the marketing director at Arlington Park who helped bring the iconic Arlington Million race to the track.
Courtesy of Kathy Rivera
His interest in horse racing piqued at the Chicago Tribune, where he got a job after college as a copy boy, then later became a sports writer and editor who wrote the racing column, “The Brass Ring.”
“He was a superb writer,” his wife said. “He was extremely intelligent and so well read.”
Rivera also earned an Emmy and numerous Telly awards for writing, producing and marketing at the television production company he and his wife started in the 1980s.
He also served on a number of boards, including eight years as chairman of the Alexian Hospital Network Board.
A private celebration of life is being held for family and close friends.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
