Lives

Mont Sutton CEO

Benoît Boulanger
Passing Date: April 12, 2016

Benoît Boulanger, who led Mont Sutton as the Quebec ski resort’s president and CEO for 29 years, died on April 12, 2016 at the age of 85.  Born in 1931, Benoît moved to Sutton with his family in 1945 when his father, Harold, co-founded a dairy company. Sutton Dairy Products was typically busy for...

U.S. Ski Team orthopedist

Dr. Edgar Miller Holmes III
Passing Date: March 8, 2016

U.S. ski team physician and ACL-repair pioneer Dr. Edgar Miller Holmes III passed away peacefully at his son’s home in Charlotte, Vermont, on March 8, at age 82. Born and raised in Boston, Holmes graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, in 1955, where he skied and became New England...

Austrian racer, New Hampshire ski school director, Beconta rep, retailer

Egon Zimmermann
Passing Date: February 27, 2016

  Austrian racer, New Hampshire ski school director, Beconta rep Egon N. Zimmermann, 83, died February 27, at his home in Kirchbichl, Austria. In FIS archives, he is referred to as Egon Zimmermann I; the younger Egon Zimmermann II was Olympic downhill champion in 1964. Born in Innsbruck, and raised...

Swiss champion

Walter Hänsli
Passing Date: February 25, 2016

Walter Hänsli, a native of Klosters, Switzerland—a leading coach and instructor who played a key role in the early promotion of Head skis in Europe—died February 25, at the age of 95. Hänsli was named to the Swiss national ski team in 1938, at age 17. He never competed in the Winter Olympics—the...

Sun Valley and White Pass pioneer

Nelson Bennett
Passing Date: January 29, 2016

Nelson Bennett, an early Sun Valley patrol supervisor who later managed the White Pass ski area in Washington for almost 30 years, died on January 29 at his home in Yakima at the age of 101. He had fallen at Christmas and never fully recovered. Born in 1914, Bennett started skiing as a child,...

Australian racer, FIS official, historian

Bob Arnott
Passing Date: January 23, 2016

William Robert "Bob" Arnott, who raced for Australia in the 1952 Oslo Olympics, died January 23 at age 93. Arnott was born in Sydney. At age 13, while attending the Cranbrook School, he began skiing in 1935 at the Hotel Kosciusko. After earning a B.S. degree at the University of Sydney in 1945, he...

Olympic Champion

Bill Johnson
Passing Date: January 21, 2016

Olympic champion Bill Johnson, whose storybook 1984 season ushered in a new era for American ski racing, passed away on January 21, 2016, at an assisted living facility outside Portland at the age of 55. His passing closed the final chapter in a tumultuous lifetime that saw him rise to the highest...

Ski school director and retailer

Ferdl Aster
Passing Date: January 19, 2016

Ferdl Aster Ski school director, retailer, cabinetmaker Ferdinand "Ferdl" Aster, who founded ski schools and ski shops in the Cleveland area, died January 19, 2016 at ag3 84. Born in in the ski-resort town of Wagrain, Austria, he apprenticed as a cabinetmaker and became a certified ski instructor....

Jumping Champion, Olympian, FIS Official

Rudy Maki
Passing Date: January 17, 2016

Rudy Maki, Olympic ski jumper, FIS official and longtime director of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, died January 24 at his home in Iron Mountain, Michigan. He was 80 years old. Born in Ishpeming, Maki competed at his first ski jumping tournament at the age of eight and by the time he was...

Lodge and resort manager, addiction counselor

Edward Siegel
Passing Date: January 14, 2016

Edward Boyce Siegel died at home in Ketchum, Idaho on January 14, 2016 at age 87 with his children, and close family and friends at his bedside.   Ed was born on December 15, 1928 in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he grew up. He attended the University of Colorado, but only completed college at age 73...