George Gillett, Jr. - Vail visionary, versatile entrepreneur

George Gillett Jr, who owned Vail and Beaver Creek ski resorts from 1985 to 1992 and helped transform the company into an international ski-resort powerhouse, died September 22, 2026 in Denver, Colorado, after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 87.

(Photo credit: Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame)

Born and raised in Racine, Wisconsin, Gillett spent six decades buying and running businesses across professional sports, broadcasting, food and ski resorts. He bought a stake in the Miami Dolphins professional football team in 1966, then with two partners bought and revived the struggling Harlem Globetrotters, in part through a CBS animated series that became the most popular children’s program of its season. He went on to build Gillett Holdings, a conglomerate owning more than a dozen television network affiliates, a chain of newspapers, commercial printing companies and a meat packing firm. In 1985, Gillet acquired the Vail and Beaver Creek ski resorts in Colorado. He skied 135 days his first season as owner. 
 

Gillett pushed to modernize the two resorts. Under his ownership, Vail installed more high-speed detachable quad chairlifts than any ski area in the world at the time. The 1988 China Bowl expansion doubled Vail’s skiable terrain and made it the largest single-mountain resort in North America. Gillett also emphasized the long-term value of customer service at the resorts, and wore an employee uniform with the name tag “George, Racine, Wisconsin.” 
 

In 1989, he brought the World Alpine Ski Championships to Vail, the first held in the United States since 1950. His support helped bring the Championships back to Vail and Beaver Creek in 1999 and 2015. 
 

Gillett conceived and directed many forward-looking programs and upgrades at Vail and Beaver Creek. He launched fine-dining on-mountain restaurants, including Trapper’s Cabin and Beano’s Cabin; partnered with Disney to bring Sport Goofy to the children’s ski school; made resort films in partnership with Warren Miller; helped bring direct flights into nearby Eagle County Airport; and persuaded orthopedic surgeon Dr. Richard Steadman to move his practice from Lake Tahoe, California, to Vail, where it grew into The Steadman Clinic and the Steadman Philippon Research Institute.
 

The late 1980s and early 1990s brought hard times. He borrowed heavily to buy major-market television stations months before the 1987 stock market crash. The subsequent recession, and collapse of the junk-bond market, forced his holding company into bankruptcy, and by 1992 he was forced to sell several holdings, include Vail and Beaver Creek. 

He rebounded from the bankruptcy. He founded Booth Creek Ski Holdings, which grew into the country’s fourth-largest ski resort owner, operating Northstar, Sierra-at-Tahoe and Bear Mountain in California; Mt. Cranmore and Waterville Valley in New Hampshire; Grand Targhee, Wyoming; and the Snoqualmie areas in Washington. He became chairman of Swift & Company, one of the nation’s largest beef and pork processors, among other ventures. In 2001 Gillett bought the Montreal Canadiens, the National Hockey League’s NHL’s oldest franchise. 
 

Gillett was inducted into the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2005. He was a lifetime trustee of the Vail Valley Foundation and a generous supporter of Vail Health, The Steadman Clinic and numerous causes across the ski community.