Skiwear designer and retailer Gretchen Lee Ress Scott died in Boulder, Colorado, on July 4, 2014, following 14 years with Parkinson’s disease complicated with breast cancer. She was 68.
Gretchen was born in Columbus, Ohio and earned a master’s degree in fine arts at Ohio State University. She started her career as a buyer for a department store in Columbus. While on a business trip to New York in 1976, she met David Wells Scott, a former Head Ski Co. executive who had just bought the Chivers Sports ski shop in Boulder. They married in January 1977.
The couple grew the ski shop for 13 years. Then Gretchen became managing director for the launch of Nevica’s North American distribution. After that success, she formed Signs and Designs, a partnership with an Italian designer, and ran its Boulder office. The company designed sports apparel for Harley-Davidson, Spyder, Nils, Fila, K2 and other leading brands.
The couple spent each June—downtime in the ski business—in Port Grimaud, France, near St. Tropez. In 2002 they bought a summer house there. Gretchen was a consummate chef and hostess, entertaining an international circle of close friends, including European students attending the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Gretchen is survived by her husband David, stepdaughters Amy Scott and Christina Scott Hill (and her husband Dr. David Hill), brother Bill Ress, sister Patricia Taylor, and grandchildren Hailey, Hope and Hannah Kotsftis of Boulder. —S.M.
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