SAM Magazine—Vail, Colo., Sept. 23, 2026—George Gillett Jr., the former owner of Vail Associates who helped usher Vail and Beaver Creek into a new era of resort development and later founded Booth Creek Ski Holdings, died Sept. 22 at a memory care facility in Denver after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Vail Daily. He was 87.
Gillett acquired Vail Associates, then owner of Vail and Beaver Creek, in 1985. During his tenure, the company invested heavily in the resorts, including in high-speed detachable lifts, grooming and terrain expansion. He was also instrumental in bringing the 1989 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships to Vail, helping elevate the resort’s international profile.
“George always thought big, but more importantly, George did big. Very few can say that,” said industry luminary Bill Jensen.
Gillett, a business mogul with media, meat-packing, and sports team interests, also brought to Vail a strong focus on market research and the guest experience. In a January 1987 SAM feature, “George Gillett Speaks His Mind,” the magazine published excerpts from a speech Gillett delivered at Ski Magazine Week in Steamboat, Colo., in which he laid out his thinking on the challenges facing the ski industry and Vail’s approach to addressing them.
Drawing on market research techniques he had used in other businesses, Gillett said Vail studied why people skied, why former skiers had left the sport and what barriers kept others from participating. The research, said Gillett, informed whether Vail would go “high-tech or high-touch…you can’t afford to deliver mixed messages: we [Vail] decided to go high-touch.”
He also saw attracting children to skiing as critical to growing the sport. “The real future of the ski industry is with the kids,” he said. “The bottom line of all this is that we have to continue to attract and retain the youth of America.”
Gillett’s ownership of Vail ended amid financial troubles in his broader business empire. Gillett Holdings filed for bankruptcy protection in 1991, and Gillett’s shares of Vail Associates were subsequently acquired by private equity firm Apollo Management. The company later became Vail Resorts and went public in 1997.
The setback did not end Gillett’s involvement in the ski business. In 1996, he founded Booth Creek Ski Holdings, marking his return to resort ownership. The company became one of the major multi-resort operators of the era, with a portfolio that included Northstar-at-Tahoe, Sierra-at-Tahoe and Bear Mountain in California; Waterville Valley, Cranmore and Loon Mountain in New Hampshire; the Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington; and Grand Targhee in Wyoming.
In 2000, Gillett, his wife, Rose, and their sons purchased Grand Targhee from Booth Creek, making it a Gillett family holding.
Outside the ski industry, Gillett built a wide-ranging business career spanning media, meatpacking, automobile dealerships and professional sports, with interests over the years that included the Harlem Globetrotters, Miami Dolphins, Montreal Canadiens and Liverpool Football Club.
Gillett was inducted into the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame in 2005. He also served for 17 years as a director of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association and remained active in the Vail Valley community after his ownership of Vail Associates ended.
Last season, Vail renamed the Chopsticks terrain in China Bowl “Gillett’s Dream” in his honor. Beaver Creek’s Rose Bowl is named for his wife.
