Lives

Co-founder of Appalachian Ski Mountain

D. Grady Moretz, Jr.
Passing Date: April 8, 2018

Grady Moretz, the co-founder, owner and operator of Appalachian Ski Mountain in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, passed away April 8, 2018 at his home in Boone. He was 88 years old. In 1968, Moretz and five partners bought Blowing Rock Ski Lodge in foreclosure, and over the years invested millions of...

Coach, broadcaster, ski racing impresario

Bob Beattie
Passing Date: April 1, 2018

Bob Beattie: An Appreciation By John Fry Bold, dynamic, charismatic, Bob Beattie fueled much of what happened to competitive alpine skiing between 1960 and the end of the 20th Century. During those 40 years the U.S. Ski Team, Nastar, the World Cup, professional racing, and television coverage of...

New England ski-school director and instructor

Jules Eberhard
Passing Date: March 22, 2018

PSIA Life Membership honoree Jules Eberhard, 85, died peacefully at his Cambridge, Vermont home on March 22 after a brief illness. Jules’ lifetime love of mountains and skiing began in his native Switzerland and connected him solidly to the U.S. ski industry when he emigrated to the United States...

Racer, Ski Company Executive

Frank Hurt
Passing Date: March 15, 2018

Frank Newton Hurt, 82, died on March 15, 2018 in Gilford, New Hampshire. He grew up in Sanbornton, New Hampshire and captained his state-championship ski team at Laconia High School, and then, as a top four-event skier, captained the Middlebury College team. Graduating in 1958 with a degree in...

Skiwear Executive

Albert H. Diem
Passing Date: March 5, 2018

Longtime ski-apparel executive Albert H. Diem, 81, died March 5 at his home in Derby Line, Vermont. Born in Zurich, Switzerland, he earned a college degree in textile manufacturing.  In the early 1960s he moved to New York to represent Schoeller, the Swiss manufacturer of woolen and stretch fabrics...

FIS and U.S. Masters racing champion

Anne Nordhoy
Passing Date: February 28, 2018

Five-time FIS Masters champion Anne Nordhoy, 77, of Spring Township, Pennsylvania, died of natural causes on Wednesday, February 28, 2018 while on vacation in Tampa, Florida with her husband Frode. Over the past four decades, Anne became well known within the skiing community as a top masters...

Winter Park Exec, Racer and Racing Official

Thor B. Groswold
Passing Date: February 22, 2018

Thor B. Groswold, 89, died February 22 at Mercy Regional Hospital in Durango, Colorado. The son of Denver ski manufacturer Thor C. Groswold and Bernice Brandt, he grew up racing and jumping and working in his father’s ski factory. Beginning in 1947, Thor raced four-way (slalom, downhill, cross...

Public relations executive

Jane Fitzpatrick Pitman
Passing Date: February 17, 2018

Jane Fitzpatrick Pitman, a ski-industry public relations executive, passed away on February 17 at Salem Hospital in Marblehead, Massachusetts. She was 92.  Jane attended Boston’s Academie Moderne and the Stratford School of Business. After a first marriage to John Thuet, she married Theodore Pitman...

Creator of Hexcel honeycomb skis

Hub Zemke
Passing Date: February 17, 2018

Hubert A. Zemke, Jr, age 75, inventor of the aluminum honeycomb ski, died February 17, 2018 after a long struggle with cancer. Zemke was a an Air Force brat, son of a fighter wing commander. He learned to ski at Garmisch, and during a determined but undistinguished career as a racer and coach, made...

POWDR Corp. and Snowbird Owner

Ian Cumming
Passing Date: February 2, 2018

Ian Cumming, a one-time Wall Street financier and more recently an influential figure in the ski resort industry, died February 2, 2018 at his home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He was 77. As much behind the public scene as his enterprises are in front of it, Cumming was affiliated with POWDR Corp.,...