Lives

Ski school founder, Northwest Ski Hall of Famer

John Hansen
Passing Date: November 21, 2021

John Hansen, ski school founder at Stevens Pass, Washington, and longtime instructor, died on November 21, 2021. He was 95. Born in Minneapolis in 1926, Hansen moved to Seattle with his family in 1939 and graduated from the University of Washington in 1949. The following year he started a 36-year...

Fleece pioneer, labor-management hero

Aaron Feuerstein
Passing Date: November 4, 2021

Aaron Feuerstein, who helped to develop polyester fleece as a foundation of activewear, and won national praise after he refused to lay off employees after a devasting fire at his Malden Mills plant in 1995, died November 4 in Boston of pneumonia. He was 95. Feuerstein joined Malden Mills after...

Longtime Skiing publisher

Harry Kaiser
Passing Date: October 23, 2021

Harry Kaiser, influential ski-industry publisher, died October 23, at the age of 91. Born in 1930 on Long Island, Kaiser started skiing at 14, which turned into a lifelong passion and profession. After graduating from Fordham University in 1953, he served two years in the Army. In 1956 he got his...

Founder of Mt. Hood Meadows

Franklin Drake
Passing Date: September 13, 2021

Franklin Drake, the founder of Mt. Hood Meadows, Oregon, and a prominent Portland builder, died September 13. He was 93. Drake graduated from the University of Michigan in 1950 and returned to Portland to join his brothers to run the Donald M. Drake Co., their father’s construction company. In 1966...

MIT professor of aeronautics, ski safety pioneer

Larry Young
Passing Date: August 4, 2021

Laurence R. Young, MIT’s Apollo Program Professor Emeritus of Astronautics and an innovator in skier safety research, died after a long struggle with cancer, on August 4, 2021. He was 85. Born in Riverdale, New York, Young attended the Bronx High School of Science, graduating in 1952. He graduated...

Atomic's chief of racing, R&D

Rupert Huber
Passing Date: August 2, 2021

Rupert “Killy” Huber, chief engineer and head of racing at Atomic until his retirerment in 2013, died August 2 after a long illness. He was 72 years old. Huber grew up racing in Radstadt, Austria, about ten miles from the original Atomic factory in Wagrain. When he was 16, Atomic founder Alois...

Vermont racing promoters

Anne and Joe Jones
Passing Date: July 17, 2021

Joseph Clarence Jones, ski coach and co-founder of the Mid-Vermont Junior Alpine Racing Council and the Vermont Alpine Racing Association died July 17, 2021, in Rutland, Vermont. He was 97. Anne Jones, who together with Joe helped promote skiing and racing throughout the Vermont region, passed...

Heliskiing pioneer

Mike Wiegele
Passing Date: July 15, 2021

Mike Wiegele, founder of the Cariboos-based helicopter skiing operation that bears his name, and of the Canadian Ski Guides Association, died July 15 at age 82. He had been hospitalized for the past 10 months with dementia. Wiegele grew up on a farm in Lading Kärnten , in the rolling hills west of...

Whistler exec, CWSAA president

Peter Alder
Passing Date: July 13, 2021

Peter Alder, resort manager and planner, lift inspector and one of the founders of the Canada West Ski Areas Association, died in July. He was 91. Born in Basel, Switzerland, Alder moved to Canada in 1951, settled in Squamish, British Columbia, and worked building utility power lines. He got his...

FIS chief

Gian-Franco Kasper
Passing Date: July 9, 2021

Gian Franco Kasper, who served 23 years as secretary general and 23 years as president of the International Ski Federation (FIS), died on July 9, after a short illness, and just one month after retiring. He was 77 years old. Kasper was born in St. Moritz, where primary education was (and still is)...