Ian Cumming - POWDR Corp. and Snowbird Owner

Ian Cumming, a one-time Wall Street financier and more recently an influential figure in the ski resort industry, died February 2, 2018 at his home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He was 77.

As much behind the public scene as his enterprises are in front of it, Cumming was affiliated with POWDR Corp., headquartered in Park City and founded in 1994 primarily by his son, John, with other members of the Cumming family and Park City business associate Nick Badami.

The portfolio of privately-held POWDR Corp. includes 10 mountain resorts: Copper Mountain and Eldora Mountain Resort in Colorado; Killington and Pico Mountain in Vermont; Boreal Mountain Resort and Soda Springs in the Lake Tahoe region of California; Mt. Bachelor in Oregon; Lee Canyon in Nevada; Gorgoza Park in Park City (snowtubing) and majority ownership in Utah’s Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort.

A rare breach POWDR Corp.’s penchant for privacy occurred in 2013 when it reluctantly sold Park City Mountain Resort to Vail Resorts after a contentious legal battle over a lease.

With a low-key persona, Cumming was reluctant to speak to the news media. He was a native of Salt Lake City and was graduated from the Harvard Business School in 1970.

In the run-up to the Olympic Winter Games of 2002 in Salt Lake City, Cumming served on a committee that helped develop venues for Games. In addition, he and his wife, Annette, were longtime supporters of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team Foundation.

In 1978 Cumming co-founded an investment firm called Leucadia and built it into a multi-billion dollar Wall Street conglomerate that held interests in in mining, manufacturing, vineyards, real estate, casinos, hotels and resorts. He retired from that firm in 2013. —Mike Korologos