Bob Thomson - President of USSA, NESM

Robert B. Thomson, president of the New England Ski Museum from 1995 to 1997, died peacefully April 13, at his home in Brooksville, Maine. A lifelong skier and outdoor adventurer, Bob was active in skiing throughout his life as a competitor, coach, official and volunteer, serving as president of the United States Eastern Amateur Ski Association and later the United States Ski Association. 

He graduated from Quincy High School, in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1941, then studied industrial engineering at Northeastern University. He left after his freshman year to serve in World War II. Graduating in 1949, he then served in the Korean War. In 1962, with two partners, he founded Crathco, Inc., a leading manufacturer of cold beverage dispensers, in Canton, Massachusetts, and was president until the company was sold in 1988.

Bob cherished the outdoors, and was a skilled amateur landscape architect, sailor and musician. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Deborah, and their children, D’Arcy Thomson of Boston, Massachusetts, Tracy Teare of Yarmouth, Maine, and Samantha Weld, of Reading, Massachusetts. He also leaves two sons-in-law and six grandchildren, as well as his brother Donald Thomson and Don’s wife, Hope, and his sisters-in-law Virginia Thomson and Elisabeth D’Arcy, as well as several nieces and nephews.