Bill Bergman, who helped pioneer Colorado’s ski industry as a co-founder of Keystone Resort, has died at 99.
Bill Bergman’s son, Bill, told the Summit Daily News that his father died peacefully at his home in Keystone on Monday morning after a brief illness.
“He was my best friend and my mentor,” his son said. “He was a man of integrity, modesty and he got things done.”
Born in Iowa in 1924, Bergman met his wife, Jane, on campus in Iowa City after returning from World War II as a lead navigator in the Air Corps before he began practicing law in 1949. In 1952, he and Jane began taking annual ski trips to Colorado. Jane died Sept. 27, 2015 at the age of 91.
Enamored with Summit County, the two would stay at and later purchase the Alhambra cabin on Montezuma Road not far from Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, the county’s only operating ski mountain at the time. During that period, Bergman befriended Max and Edna Dercum, who’d long dreamt of opening their own ski destination.
Huddled in a cozy Summit County cabin in the winter of 1968, the Dercums pitched Bergman a plan, and Keystone Resort became a reality in just two years. After returning to Iowa, Bergman began pulling together investors from his law office in Cedar Rapids. In November 1970, his wife christened Keystone’s first lift with a bottle of champagne.
Bergman served as Keystone’s first chair of the board, or president, in the resort’s early years. His son, Bill, moved to Keystone in 1970 and helped with construction on what would become the Summit and Mountain House lodges, then known as Key Top and Key Base.
In 1973, Bergman hired Bob Maynard, the then-vice president for Yosemite Park and Curry Co., to take over the resort’s operations. Maynard would go on to run Aspen Skiing Co. between 1988 and 1996.
Bergman remained heavily invested in the Keystone and Summit County community throughout his life, including serving on the Keytone’s Citizens League and the Snake River Water District. Last year, Bergman became the first signee for a petition that eventually led to the incorporation of Keystone in March, making the area Colorado’s newest town.
More so than skiing, one of Bergman’s greatest passions, golf, led him to be regarded by friends and peers as a godfather of Summit golfing in addition to his title as a forefather of the county’s modern ski community.
Bergman played in the British Amateurs and with Arnold Palmer and other notable names in the U.S. Senior Opens. He founded a Summit County golf group, the Bergman Boys, and remained an avid golfer up until the end of his life. At age 96, Bergman sunk a hole-in-one on the 15th hole at the Keystone River Course, which at the time he estimated to be the fourth hole-in-one of his golfing career.
As someone who “always gave his advice freely,” Bergman “was always available, whether you wanted it or not, for a golf tip,” his son, Bill, said.
Bergman’s legacy is forever enshrined on the mountain he helped found, with Bergy’s Glade and the Bergman Bowl named in his honor. Bergman’s son, Bill, who still lives in Keystone and owns his own realty group, said his father would comment often about Summit County’s wonders.
Driving on the county’s roads, “My dad would say it every time: ‘I’ve traveled most of the world, particularly mountainous regions in Europe, and Summit County is still the most beautiful spot I know.’”
Editor’s note: This story will be updated with additional information.