Lives

Patron Saint of Taos Ski Valley

Jean Mayer
Passing Date: October 10, 2020

Jean Marie Mayer, the 1953 French junior champion who became founding director of the Taos ski school and owner of the Hotel St. Bernard, died October 10 at a hospital in Santa Fe, attended by his life-partner Elise Waters Olonia and his daughter Monique Jacobsen. Jean was 85, and suffering from...

Resort executive, U.S. Hall of Fame honored member

Phil Gravink
Passing Date: October 9, 2020

Resort founder and executive, U.S. Hall of Fame member and ski safety advocate Phil Gravink died October 9. He was 85. Gravink grew up on a 460-acre dairy farm in western New York. From there he went to Cornell University in the early 1950s, where he excelled at crew. After success at international...

Stenmark's coach

Jean-Pierre Chatellard
Passing Date: September 23, 2020

Jean-Pierre Chatellard, who coached Ingemar Stenmark for decade, died September 23 at his home Chimney Rock, Colorado, after a year-long fight with cancer. He was 73. (Photo above: J.P. Chatellard with Stig Strand at Tarnaby, 1983) Born and raised in Megève, he Chatellard became a slalom coach for...

Innovative manufacturer

Josef Fischer
Passing Date: August 29, 2020

Josef Fischer Jr., who built his family firm into a market share leader through innovative manufacturing techniques, died August 29 at age 90.   Fischer AG was founded in 1924 by his father, a cartwright in Ried Im Innfreis, in flat farmland near Salzburg. By 1938, in addition to building wagons,...

Historian, ISHA Award winner

Pierre Dumas
Passing Date: August 14, 2020

Pierre Dumas, ski historian, engineer and 2017 ISHA Cyber Award winner passed away on August 14. He was 78. A passionate skier and ski historian, Dumas contributed extensive original research and finished projects for the Laurentian Ski Museum, and still managed to ski more than 80 days annually at...

Ski racer, coach, educator, journalist

William McCollom
Passing Date: June 29, 2020

A pillar in New England racing for generations, William “Bill” McCollom enjoyed a lifetime immersed in the sport: as a coach, competitor, race official, author, educator and journalist. McCollom died from a heart condition at his home in Hartland, Vermont, on June 29, at age 74. Born in Orange, New...

Pioneering ski instructor

Maxine Bounous
Passing Date: June 23, 2020

Maxine Bounous, a pioneering ski instructor, died June 23. She was 94. Born in 1925 in Provo, Utah, Bounous made a career of being first. She was among the first women to graduate from Brigham Young University; she was the first female employee at Ironton Steel Corporation; and she became one of...

Mechanical engineer, researcher, ski-safety crusader

Carl Ettlinger
Passing Date: June 19, 2020

Carl Ettlinger, an indefatigable force in advancing skier safety, died June 19 at his home in Underhill Center, Vermont, from Parkinson’s disease. He was 77. An innovative researcher and gifted mechanical engineer, Ettlinger worked collaboratively throughout his life to promote safety on the slopes...

Rossignol chief

Laurent Boix-Vives
Passing Date: June 18, 2020

Laurent Boix-Vives, who drove the growth of Rossignol for half a century beginning in 1955, died June 18 at age 93. Boix-Vives, son of a local grocer in Brides-les-Bains, was born in 1926, and at age 10 had watched Emile Allais win local races. At 18, near the end of the war, his father took him...

USSA leader, Olympic visionary, athlete advocate

Howard Peterson
Passing Date: May 11, 2020

Howard Peterson, an influential leader of the U.S. Ski Association, a pivotal voice in bringing the Winter Olympic Games to Utah and an indefatigable advocate for the athletes throughout his storied career, passed away May 11 in Heber City, Utah, after a long illness. He was 69.   As secretary...