Chairman of Live Nation NYC, Ron Delsener, one of the most respected concert promoters in the live entertainment industry today, has announced his plans for retirement after six decades in the business.

“It’s been a great honor to have played a role in bringing music’s biggest stars to stages across New York,” Delsener said in a statement detailing his retirement plans.

“Ron helped bring concerts to New York for 50+ years and supported countless artists along the way. We wish him all the best in his next chapter,” Live Nation shared in a separate statement.

Delsener’s career and impact on New York City came in like a wrecking ball, promoting The Beatles’ first outdoor concert at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, N.Y., in 1964. Over six decades, he worked on thousands of shows with illustrious musicians and groups, including David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra with Ella Fitzgerald, Quincy Jones and more.

In 1966 he created and produced a $1 per ticket concert series at Wollman Ice-Skating Rink in Central Park, which, over 15 years, welcomed the likes of Joni Mitchell, Louis Armstrong, Otis Redding, Led Zepplin and more. The spirit of those gatherings still is alive and well in the form of Central Park’s Summerstage shows. During that same time, he became the exclusive booker for all programs of contemporary and popular music at the Garden State Arts Center—now known as the PNC Arts Center—in New Jersey.

Over the years, Delsener continued to promote shows at iconic institutions in New York City, ushering Sting at the Metropolitan Opera House and Neil Young at Carnegie Hall in ’83. He also helped restore the amphitheater at Northwell Health at the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, N.Y., which has a 14,000-person capacity.

In recent years, the promoter was honored by New York City’s Parks Foundation with a gala dinner and performances by Jon Bon Jovi, Idina Menzel, David Sanborn and Paul Shaffer and comedian Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci at SummerStage.

His retirement comes after an emblematic career with some of the biggest and most iconic names in music of any era from the mid-’60s onward. His ambitions are enduring and have taken the forms of Delsener/Slater Enterprises, SFX Entertainment and Live Nation. Delsener/Slater Enterprises launched after Delsener partnered with the late Mitch Slater, who was booking shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1988, and they quickly began to dominate the Northeast. During their time together, they went after every act, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Neil Diamond. In 1996, he sold the company to SFX Entertainment for $20 million and remained with their successor companies, including Live Nation, heading the New York office until now.

Learn more about Delsener by watching a keynote conversation between Delsener and concert promoter and Relix publisher Peter Shapiro hosted by David Fricke below.